The Game of Life
by nemaara
Summary: A collection of oneshots of the 10 possible pairings of the Teen Titans, exploring each of their characters and their relationships with each other. Rated M for language, some violence, some suggestiveness. Bonus 3: Raven/Slade Part 2
1. Robin and Starfire

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans

This is a collection of all of the 10 possible pairings of the Teen Titans... Rob/Star, BB/Cyborg, etc. In my quest to develop their characters, they will fight horrible monsters, despicable villains, each other!, but also find out just how strong the bonds of friendship are...

But I have rambled on long enough. Without further ado here is Ch 1...

"Speech"

_Thoughts _

* * *

**Robin and Starfire**

Robin woke up at 5:30 am, sharp, as he did every morning. Rolling out of bed, he felt revitalized after his nice long sleep. _Time to greet the new day. _

The first thing he did, as always, was put on his mask. Force of habit. The second thing he did was go to his bathroom and take a shower. Yes, with his mask still on. Not that it mattered, that thing was waterproof, but still...

The third thing he did was brush his teeth and get on his clothes. And after that he would gel up his hair into the long spikes that everyone was used to. And then he would leave the bathroom... no wait. He was forgetting something.

Ah yes. The final thing he would do before he left his room. Pose in the mirror.

And after that, he would walk out to the rooftop just in time to catch the glorious sunrise, smiling to himself as he breathed in the fresh morning air. _A new dawn, a new day. A new day with endless possibilities. _He stared at the dusky orange clouds as they slowly became pink and red, light bathing the tower and Jump city in its breathtaking radiance. Staring at the rising sun, he thought he could pick out a an oddly shaped pink cloud, one that looked like a heart. And that's when it hit him. Shit. Today was Valentine's day. And he had forgotten to buy a present for Starfire.

* * *

Starfire woke up as the sunlight meandered its way through her window and over her bed. Stretching her arms, she smiled widely, enjoying the sight and feeling of the beautiful morning, its cool air and magnificent sun. Humming to herself, she got out of bed and took a quick shower, before performing her usual hygienecs and brushing her hair 100 times. Err, oops. 101 times. Whatever. And then after that she would check on her Silkie, playing with him, feeding him, hugging and squeezing him until was about to burst - not that she ever noticed - but he would always smile back and radiate hearts at her. Ah, life was wonderful. Especially since it was a special day.

_I wonder what boyfriend Robin will do for our first Valentine's Day. Oh, I can't wait to see what special things he has planned out for me! _

She left her room still clutching her Silkie to her chest, singing as she walked down the hallway.

* * *

_What the hell do Tamaranians like to eat anyway? Does she like chocolate? _Robin stood in front of a pastry store, unsure of what to get for her. He had what seemed to be an unlimited number of options but... Starfire was known for her weird tastes. Then again, that girl would practically eat anything, so it didn't matter _that _much. _Wait, what am I saying? Of course it matters! I have to get her something special. Something like... _

He sighed. He really had no clue what she would like. An apple turnover. No. A box of chocolates. Nah, that had been done too many times. A fresh pie. How would he wrap that up? A tofu pastry. What the hell was that supposed to be anyway? _Wait. Actually, I'll buy one of those for Beast Boy. _

Aha! He remembered that she liked pudding-type things. He'd buy her some custards. He couldn't resist smiling when he walked out of the pastry store.

* * *

"Friends!" Starfire greeted Beast Boy and Cyborg as she walked into the Tower's common room. And as usual, they were both fighting over who got to make breakfast first.

"Hey! Your tofu bacon takes way less time to cook than real bacon. Hands off the frying pan! I get to go first."

"No way dude, that makes no sense! If it takes less time for me to cook my tofu, then I should get to go first! I'll be done fast and you can cook your... meat." The green boy shuddered at the thought of meat.

"Friends!" Starfire wrapped them both in a bone crushing hug, cutting off the air supply to their throats. That was always how their morning arguments ended. "It is such a _won-_derful day! We should not be spending it over who is cooking first."

"S-Star- air-" "Starfire-" They both gasped at the same time and she realized that their faces were turning blue.

"Oops. Sorry," she giggled a little and let them both go.

Cyborg rubbed the back of his head. "I guess Star's right. Here, you can go first," he gestured graciously to the stove.

"No, no, that would be very rude of me. You go first," Beast Boy made an equally chivalrous motion.

"No," Cyborg's voice was slightly edgier, "I insist that you go first."

"C'mon Cy, it would be selfish of me to do that."

"Damn it boy! Just use the stupid pan and cook your damn tofu!"

"I thought you wanted to go first! Stop changing your mind!"

And their argument started back up again. Starfire merely sighed. And then she gave a shout of glee as Robin entered the room.

"Robin!" She squealed and almost hugged him to death too.

"Star- can't-breathe-"

She let go before Robin turned blue - she was getting better at that! - and noticed the grocery bag in his hands.

"Oh Robin! What did you buy? Did you get some of those unhealthy little brown candies - what are they called.. um ..um.."

Cyborg looked up form his argument with Beast Boy. "Chocolate?"

"Yes! Or did you get me cookies? Or-"

"Here, Beast Boy," Robin tossed over the tofu... thing... him and he looked down at it.

"Sweet!" He said. "Rob bought me breakfast, guess I won't be needing the pan anymore."

Cyborg grumbled something under his breath but let it go and began cooking.

And Starfire turned a mournful gaze on Robin. "But... but... I thought you were my boyfriend, Robin. Not a friend who is a boy, but boyfriend. I thought-"

"I-It's not like that, Star, I just saw something and-"

"But you... you would rather be Beast Boy's boyfriend?"

Beast Boy snorted soymilk out his nose. Robin could not help but grin a little at that.

"No, I bought you something special too." He pulled out several very nicely wrapped custards and presented them to her. "Here, try one. I think you'll like them."

Starfire immediately brightened up and jumped in joy. She took a bite out of one and clasped her hands together, delighted. "Oh these are just like the glurtleslugs of my home planet! Oh thank you thank you thank you!"

She hugged Robin again and this time he almost passed out before she let up. Both Cyborg and Beast Boy merely smirked at that sight and went back to eating/cooking.

"Oh, by the way, where's Raven?" Robin said after he regained his breath. "It's already 8 o'clock."

The other three just shrugged. Raven sometimes slept in past noon. Or sometimes she just didn't want to come out of her room. Nobody really knew what she did in the mornings most of the time.

"I shall go fetch the Raven!" Starfire skipped happily through the doorway, leaving the three males to eat their breakfast in peace.

* * *

Raven woke up to the loud knocking at her doorway and grumbled off a few curses before putting a hand to her head. She always had a headache after waking up. Still grumbling to herself, she viciously shut the curtains to her room and pulled on her cloak, raising the hood, before moving to stop the annoying knocking. Opening the door a sliver, she came face to face with Starfire.

"Oh friend Raven! It is so good to see you up already-"

"You woke me up."

"Oh, well, sorry..." Awkward silence for a moment. "But, now that you are up you should come down and break the fast with us! Robin bought some of these delightful bread things and-"

"I hate breakfast."

"Um... well..." Starfire faltered and Raven made a move to shut her door, but the redhead stopped her. "But Raven it is the day of Valentines! You should be happy and enjoying life! Robin definitely has something special planned for me tonight, I just know it! You should also-"

"Starfire. I bet Robin didn't even remember today was Valentine's day until this morning. And I don't have a boyfriend. And I don't want one."

"But-"

Raven shut the door. Starfire sighed. Raven was always grumpy in the morning.

* * *

The day passed mostly without incident, with just a single armed robbery at the local museum that Robin had managed to take care of himself. Of course, it was a question of why he was downtown in the first place, when he usually stayed in the Tower, either working on finding leads on Slade or crushing Cyborg and Beast Boy at racing games or training. But if anyone thought it was strange, nobody mentioned it.

Starfire secretly worried that Raven had been right, though. Robin did not seem like the type to remember things like the day of Valentines. He was much more obsessed with his work and with Slade than he was with her. Well, not in a lovey dovey way. That would have just been creepy. Robin and Slade more than just brotherly love...

Anyway! She sincerely hoped that he had planned something special for her. After all, they had already admitted their love for each other 9 months ago. He wouldn't disappoint someone important to him, would he?

Hopefully not.

Starfire looked at Beast Boy and Cyborg taunting each other while they played that fighting game that they always did, and then back at Robin, who was busy filling out a police report at the computer. And there she was, left alone, with nothing to do. Heaving a sigh, she tried to think of anything that she liked to do... sing the 900 verses of the Tamaranian song of love...

A minute after trying that, she had destroyed the ears of her three fellow Titans in the room, so that was out of the question.

She cooked a delightful Zorkaberry dish, but that didn't take very long and she was again alone.

"Robin?-"

"Not now, Star, I have to finish this report."

"Beast Boy? Cyborg? Can I-"

"Oh no you didn't! That's totally cheating!" "You're just jealous 'cause I'm better!" "Yeah right, I'll beat your ass anytime!" They didn't even hear her.

With a sad look on her face, she left the room to seek out Raven again.

* * *

"No."

"But we can find all sorts of nice things at the mall of shopping, like dresses, products of hair (hair products)-"

"No."

Starfire continued on. "... find you a boyfriend-"

Ah, that one hurt. Starfire grinned sheepishly before backing away from a furious Raven and leaving her room before something blew up.

* * *

And at last when evening came, it really seemed like Robin had forgotten all about Valentine's day. After finishing his report, he had shut himself up in his room to 'work on finding Slade's next plan before it found them' and that was the end of that. Starfire floated back to her room, depressed, and closed the door, laying down on her bed.

"Oh, Silkie. Life is horrible, isn't it?"

Silkie made a sad face to match her own.

"How could he just forget? I thought that I meant something to him." Starfire hmphed and closed her eyes, listening to her clock tick in the silence.

And then a knock at her door.

"Starfire? You in there?" Robin's voice.

She got up slowly and walked over. "Yes, Robin?"

He was surprised at the depressed tone of her voice. "Is something wrong?"

"No, Robin."

"Erm, well, I know I've sort of been ignoring you the whole day, and I'm sorry, but..."

Starfire was silent behind the door.

"They're hosting a dance on one of the ships in the harbor tonight, and I got us two tickets. Are you coming?"

Starfire broke down the door in joy and leapt at him, tackling the Robin - who was now in a suit and tie - to the floor and hugging him closely.

"Oh Robin, I knew that friend Raven was wrong! You didn't forget about today after all!"

"Well, actually I forgot until this morning, but I managed to get the tickets while I was-"

Starfire slapped him in the face but then leaned down and kissed him. After a moment, they got up, and holding hands, went down to the harbor to enjoy their evening together.

* * *

Next up: Beast Boy/Cyborg


	2. Beast Boy and Cyborg

Disclaimer: Still don't own the Teen Titans.

"Speech"

_Thoughts_

* * *

**Beast Boy and Cyborg**

" 'Sup Cy," Beast Boy grinned widely at the robotic teen as he walked in through the common room doorway.

Cyborg instantly knew that something was up. He looked at his friend suspiciously. "...Yes?" _He probably wants me to do him a favor or something. _

"Okay, so, you know how I got that moped when I worked at that meatymeat place, right?"

"Yes?"

"Right... so, it got all banged up and stuff, so I was wondering if you could help me, ya know, fix it up a little."

"Wait, you mean the one from the meatymeat place that was actually the weird space tofu place that I actually ate and ughhhhhhh," he clutched his stomach, still reeling from the memory that he had actually eaten _tofu. _That had been the worst day of his life. _  
_

Beast Boy gave him a funny look. "So?"

Cyborg pondered it for a moment. "No." He said flatly.

Beast Boy gave him the puppy eyed look. "Pleaseeeee." He got on his knees in front of his friend and begged.

"No."

He turned into a little kitten.

"No."

He turned into a little dog.

"No."

He turned into a giant dinosaur. Cyborg raised an eyebrow and Beast Boy shifted back to his normal form, rubbing the back of his head. Cyborg began to walk away, but the green Titan stopped him once more.

"C'mon dude, what's it gonna take for you to help me? I'll do anything!"

Cyborg froze in place. "Anything? You sure ya mean that?"

"Positive."

Cyborg pulled out a giant leg of ham from the fridge. "Eat it. Then we'll talk." He could not help but smirk at the expression on his friend's face. Resting his elbows on the counter, he waited for an answer.

_Meat. Moped. Meat. Moped. Meat... _Beast Boy gulped before mustering up his courage. He _had _to have that moped. I mean, what else would he get the ladies with, besides his amazing handsomeness, right? But meat... he had only eaten it once before, when he had been affected by that chemical and turned into that monster. The thought of it still gave him nightmares. But the moped! But meat...

"Make up you mind already!" Cyborg's voice made him jump. He looked mournfully at the hunk of meat for a few moments.

Beast Boy mustered up his courage. "Alright. I'll do it," he said after a moment.

He glared at the metal man, who was watching him eagerly, before taking a very, very, slow, painful bite out of the piece of ham... Beast Boy spit it out immediately and pretended to choke, rolling out the ground and holding his throat. Cyborg was laughing so hard that tears were streaming down his face.

"You actually did it! I didn't think you would actually eat a piece of it!"

The green boy grumbled under his breath, realizing that he had been tricked. Cyborg would've helped him, meat, or no meat. But he had fallen into the trap, as he always did.

"Alright, alright, that was mean, I admit it. But what's wrong with meat, B? It's way better than that tofu junk that you eat."

"It's not junk! You're just jealous because... well... I don't know. But you're just jealous!"

"Right. I'm jealous of your height, your lack of muscles, your lack of skill at video games, your lack of intelligence," Cyborg began counting on his fingers and Beast Boy glowered at him.

"Yeah? Well... uh... I can't really argue the height and muscle points, but I'm way better than you at every game we play! And I'm not _that _dumb!"

"Yeah? Then how about another bet? You beat me in Super Smash Bros, I fix up your moped. I win, you have to eat normal breakfast for a week."

"You're on! And define normal."

"It's too late for you now, BB." ...

Surprisingly, Beast Boy won, using a bunch of cheats and hacks, actually, he won simply by distracting Cyborg, who had a notoriously short attention span. And so he got his new moped and keep his tofu diet. All in all, neither of them was really unhappy with the way things turned out. Beast Boy, despite having to eat a bit of meat, got his moped, and Cyborg, who had intended to help his friend anyway, had a bit of fun while at it. Of course, he had his pride hurt by losing to _Beast Boy, _of all people, in a video game. Sad day.

* * *

The alarm sounded in Titans' Tower and everyone came rushing out of their rooms, gathering around the computer, where Robin was already pulling up a map of the city.

"Plasmus, Overload, Cinderblock," Robin muttered, slamming his fist on the keyboard. "Slade's gotta be behind this one. Alright guys, we'll have to split into 3 groups. Raven, you can get rid of Plasmus by yourself, right? Just make him go to sleep."

The violet haired girl nodded.

"Alright. Star and I will take down Cinderblock. BB, Cy, you get Overload. Oh, and make sure you watch out for Slade's robots. Satellite images are showing tons of them waiting to ambush us. Got it?"

"Yeah." "On it." "Let us go and kick the butt."

"Titans, go!"

* * *

Beast Boy and Cyborg walked cautiously into the abandoned building where they had last spotted Overload headed, knowing that it could be one of Slade's messed up traps. The sun had just set and night was upon them, limiting their vision in the darkness. Cyborg refrained from turning on his light for fear that it would give their location away, so they were forced to rely on Beast Boy's bloodhound form to sniff out anything that shouldn't have been in an abandoned building.

"Cy," he whispered. "We've got a problem."

"What's up?"

"No sign of Overload, but something else is around. And there's a ton of dead bodies on the second floor," he scrunched up his face, disgusted by the smell of rotting flesh.

Cyborg's eyes widened but he said nothing. Turning his robotic eye towards the ceiling, he used his high powered x-ray vision to scan through the wooden planks and view the area above. As beast Boy had said, there seemed to be a bunch of dead bodies there, tons of bones scattered randomly about the floor with a pile of them sitting in the center of the room. Cyborg resisted the urge to puke. Slade was really a sick bastard sometimes.

"Any idea where Overload went?"

"No clue."

"Alright, we'll just have to get rid of these stupid robots and-"

"And what, exactly?" A dark voice murmured from the shadows, interrupting Cyborg's whispering. Both of the Titans' eyes bugged out as they saw a man in a black and orange mask walk forward. And then they took defensive stances, their looks of shock morphing to anger and determination.

"What are you planning to do with all those dead bodies, Slade?"

"Well you'll just have to find out, won't you?"

"I guess we'll have to beat it out of you," Cyborg said angrily, shooting his sonic cannon at the spot where Slade was just standing.

The villain disappeared into the darkness and an instant later he was behind them, delivering a powerful punch to the back of Cyborg's head. Dodging aside as Beast Boy struck at him in gorilla form, he kicked the green animal back and jumped back from one of the robotic teen's punches. And melded into the shadows once again. Cyborg activated the light on his shoulder and it shined directly on Slade's fist, which send him flying backwards to crash into his green friend. Slade moved forward quickly and tore the light off of Cyborg's shoulder before retreating into the darkness again.

"I've got another one of those, ya know. Not gonna be that easy." He activated the light on his other shoulder.

"Oh really?" Slade was behind them.

Both of them scrambled up and turned to fight him, but he was gone again.

"Just stay still!" Beast Boy muttered angrily, unable to lock down the villain with any of his normal fighting animals. Transforming into a bat, he tried detecting Slade with sound waves, but to no avail. He was moving around too quickly; Beast Boy had no way of finding him like that. And then Slade's staff came flying down into Beast Boy's body, sending him crashing down to the ground. Cyborg turned around and fired his sonic cannon right where Slade should've been standing, but he was gone as quickly as he came. And then he felt a hand on his shoulder and he spun around again to meet nothing but an empty void.

"Turn around," Slade's voice sounded behind him. Instinctively he spun around and raised his arms, barely managing to block the kick before retaliating with an upward knee of his own. It made contact with thin air. And then the villain was behind him once again. He came up before Cyborg could react and trapped him in a headlock, slowly squeezing the air out of him.

"Urgh... aghh... lemme go!" Cyborg struggled but Slade's iron vice was too much for him to break.

And then Beast Boy was behind the villain in gorilla form and trapped him in a headlock as well. "Let him go!"

"You wish."

The green Titan violently tore Slade away from his friend and smashed him into the ground before stomping on him a couple times. Seizing Slade's shoulders, Beast Boy pushed the man into the ground hard before yelling into his face.

"What are your plans?! What do you want to do with those bodies?!"

It was silent.

"We know you're planning something," Cyborg came up behind them and spoke with controlled anger. "You might as well spill it now before we have Raven come here and search your mind."

Still silent.

Beast Boy roared and punched downward viciously, crushing the gut of what they soon realized was actually a Slade robot. The mask fell off and a screen switched on.

"Hello, Beast Boy, Cyborg. Not exactly my preferred guests, but you'll make do."

They both gritted their teeth and looked at him angrily. "What are you up to this time, Slade?"

"Me? I'm not up to anything. In fact I'm down. Beneath your feet." He moved aside and revealed a massive seismic generator behind him. "I'm sure you both know what this is. You have two hours. Good luck."

"Wait!"

"Wait? Oh yes, how rude of me. I forgot to leave you with a parting gift." Slade pulled a detonator out of his pocket and pushed the red button. "Please enjoy the view," he murmured before the screen went black. A moment later, the robot exploded, bringing the whole building down on them.

* * *

Robin arrived on the scene first, surveying the gigantic mound of rubble that, according to his communicator, his two friends were buried under. Trying to fight down his worry, he made a small hole in the debris.

"Cyborg? Beast Boy? Hello?" He called out. No answer. "Damn it," he muttered to himself, and began digging faster. And then a moment later, a metal arm pushed its way out of the top of the ruined building followed by a shoulder, then Cyborg's head.

"Robin?" He said weakly, looking like he was on the verge of passing out.

"Cyborg!" Robin ran up quickly to help his friend out.

The robotic man clutched his chest, trying to catch his breath for a moment before looking down worriedly. "BB's still in there. We gotta get him out."

"Yeah, on it," Robin started digging furiously again while Cyborg looked over his shoulder, an expression of nervousness and worry on his face. To him, it felt like an eternity, waiting for any sign of his friend to show up, but in actuality it was only probably a minute or so. Time had a way of slowing down when one was in a state of heightened emotion.

But at last Robin jumped out of the hole in the debris, carrying the limp body of the green Titan in his arms. He set him down gently on the ground and Cyborg ran over as quickly as he could, looking very scared as Beast Boy did not stir.

"Don't worry, Cyborg, he's breathing," Robin put a hand on the robotic teen's shoulder but he was shrugged off.

"B, you gotta talk to me man! You can't just give in now! You gotta fight! You gotta live!" His voice was an imploring whisper. He looked slightly more relieved as one of his companion's green eyes opened.

"Ugh..." Beast Boy's voice was startlingly weak. "I... don't think... I'm gonna... make it..."

"No! You have to! You can't just leave us now-"

"Cy... You were... a great friend..."

"You can't just leave me! I mean, I know we've had plenty of arguments about video games and tofu and shit, but you're... my best friend..."

"You're... mine... too..." his voice trailed off and in a hushed breath, he whispered one last word. "Goodbye."

It was silent for a moment as Cyborg knelt beside the still body of his best friend, shaking with rage and sadness. Robin put a hand on Cyborg's shoulder, teeth gnashed together, tears brimming in his eyes behind his mask. One of his friends, his _family _lost forever, killed by his archenemy, the monster of a man Slade. And yet although Robin was tempted to go on a killing spree to vent his anger, he refrained from moving because he knew just how much Beast Boy had meant to Cyborg. They were the best of friends even though it didn't seem like it at times, and as they put it, two freaks who had nobody else to look out for them except for each other. Bonded by the fact that they were both different, they had come to part after those couple years of the best friendships of their lives.

"Psyche." Beast Boy's eyes flew open and he cracked a smile at them. "Got ya."

The two Titans stared at him in shock, taking a minute to register what their eyes were seeing. Mouths agape, they merely pointed at him, stuttering. And then they were both furiously, shouting at him at the tops of their lungs.

"What the hell man! We were actually worried about you! I thought I was gonna lose you!"

"Beast Boy! Most of your jokes are lame, but that was just... sick! That wasn't funny at all!"

"Erm... sorry-"

"You better be!" "Yeah dude! You know we care about you! Why would you do something like that?!"

The green boy grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Right... so uh... where did Overload go?"

"Hmm well we lost track of him a while ago and... Yo! Stop distracting me by changing the subject!"

And then Robin jumped forward, pushing Beast Boy down to the ground as Overload reappeared, slashing at them with his arms.

"We'll talk about this later," Robin muttered to Beast Boy before getting up to face their adversary. "For now, we destroy him."

It only took a bit of drool and a fire hydrant, and the poor electrical monster was done for. Slade really had to make him waterproof if he wanted Overload as an effective force to fight the Titans with.

* * *

"Robin," Cyborg said after the monster was no more than a soaked chip on the ground. "We've got a problem. Slade's got this seismic generator underground and-"

"I know, I got the memo. Slade ambushed us too; he hit us with some sort of gas, but we seem to be okay for now. Either way, I can't deal with the generator. Star's still fighting Cinderblock and the HIVE's robbing the museum again. Raven and I will have to take care of that. You two go find this thing and shut it down."

"But Robin-"

"Go," he put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I trust your guys' abilities. I know you won't fail." And with that, he was off, leaving Cyborg and Beast Boy alone.

There was an awkward moment of silence where Beast Boy darted around his metal companion, trying to get his attention, but he got no response. "So, uh, Cy, where are we headed?"

He still got no response, but Cyborg began walking toward a manhole and dropped down into the sewer system - it was the fastest way underground.

"C'mon Cy, it was just a joke," Beast Boy pleaded with his friend. "I didn't mean to scare you like that. Dude, you take everything too seriously."

"I don't have time for this," was the grumbled response. The cybernetic man disappeared into the sewers, leaving behind his crestfallen partner.

Heaving a sigh, Beast Boy followed, knowing that he had screwed up once again. _But I mean come on, it was just a joke. I guess Raven is rubbing off on everyone or something. I didn't think Cy'd take it so seriously... _

He knew his friend well enough to know that Cyborg wasn't the type with a hot temper, at least not towards his friends. Unlike Robin and Raven, he generally was pretty pacifistic, trying to make peace whenever there was an argument, typically not antagonizing anyone at all. Well, he did get pretty mad when his friends were in danger, especially Beast Boy.

But now he was mad at his friend, with that cold temper of his that was much more frightening than an enraged Robin or Raven could ever be. It was the fear of disappointment that really bothered Beast Boy. He didn't want to hurt his friends.

"Look, B," Cyborg's voice brought him out of his thoughts, "forget about earlier and focus. We're fighting Slade."

"We're what? Oh... right..." There was a tense silence as they continued walking through the sewers. "Hey Cy, you're not... mad at me are you? I didn't mean to scare you like that..."

"I said forget about it," the robotic teen pointed to a chamber up ahead and looked at his arm to gauge their location. "Looks like that's where we're headed. No time to be distracted about things like that."

"But-"

"He's right, you know," Slade stepped out from the shadows behind them. The two Titans turned around immediately and readied themselves for an attack. "Now now, no need to get so defensive. I merely want to... talk."

"Whatever it is you have to say, we don't want to hear it." "Yeah! What makes you think we're just gonna stand here and listen to you?!"

"Fair enough," Slade murmured. "You'll hear what I have to say after I destroy you and your friends."

"Our friends?"

"See? You _are _willing to listen after all. As I was saying, I have poisoned your friends with a certain gas that causes gradual nerve degeneration and mental instability. I'm sure Robin mentioned that he had been hit with something..."

"You bastard-"

"If you want to save them, you'll have to strike a deal with me," Slade continued on nonchalantly, ignoring them. He took out a vial of something from his pocket and held it for them to see. "The only antidote that can save your petty friends-"

"What do you want?" Cyborg muttered angrily, knowing that just attacking Slade wasn't going to get them anywhere. They had to play his game his way. As always.

"Cy, what are you-"

"Shut up, B. If we don't do this his way he'll never give us that antidote and then Robin, Starfire, and Raven will all die. You want that to happen?"

"Relax, Beast Boy. This deal isn't as bad as you think it is," Slade murmured. "All you have to do is kill your friend," he pointed a thumb at Cyborg. "Or as an alternative, you volunteer your life to him if that's the way you want to do it. Either way, one of you must die here. Then I'll give you the antidote."

"You've got to be kidding-"

"Oh, I'm not joking. So what'll it be? Your life, or the lives of your friends? Make your decision fast. The clock is ticking," the villain gestured to the seismic generator in the room behind him, which showed a timer of 10 minutes remaining.

The two friends looked at each other, expressions of shock and uncertainty on their faces. They knew they couldn't risk their friends lives and the city for their own selfish purposes, but the thought of killing each other...

"I don't want to do this, BB. I... I can't do it. But we can't just let..."

"I know," Beast Boy looked at the ground. "One of us has to do it. I," he gulped. "Kill me."

"B, you know I can't do that. You have to be the one to do it." He looked his friend in the eye, a serious expression on his face. They both knew what they had to do. There was no guarantee that Slade was going to keep to his word when one of them did die, and even if he did, there was no way they were going to kill each other. But they couldn't just bet everything on trying to beat the villain in combat.

_What do I do? Arghh! _Beast Boy held his head in his arms. _I... There's just no way... But I have to... _

"Stop stalling!" Cyborg yelled at him. "We don't have time! You have to do this, B."

"But-"

"Just do it," he muttered.

And without knowing what he was doing Beast Boy transformed into a bear, tearing through the metal covering of Cyborg's chest plate and into the circuits underneath. Blue lightning surged from Cyborg's chest and he screamed pain before collapsing to the ground.

Slade watched on, intrigued. He didn't think that one of them would actually kill the other - the Titans, with the exception of Robin, would have always tried to fight him and take the antidote with force rather than play the game his way. But, how many times had that failed them? Maybe they had finally learned from their past mistakes. Or he was being duped. But as he saw the robotic man slump to the ground, he thought that he wasn't mistaken after all. It seemed that Beast Boy had actually done it. Waiting until after the blue cybernetics had turned black and become deactivated, Slade then approached the shuddering Titan. And then he jumped back as Beast Boy lashed out at him in gorilla form, tears streaming from his eyes. But before Beast Boy could attack again, the villain held out the antidote bottle.

"Do you want it or not?"

The green Titan froze in place and shifted back to his normal form. The rage on his face did not fade at all, but he swallowed his resentment and took the bottle from Slade's hand. "I'm surprised you kept your word," he spat out spitefully.

He got a hollow laugh in return. "You'd be surprised at how often I tell the truth. Now," he gestured to the thing behind him. "I trust you want to shut it off?"

"And you're just gonna let me?"

"Dear child, if I let that thing go off, it would destroy the city that I intend to conquer. Do you really think I would want to demolish something that I'll be inheriting in the future?" Slade took out a detonator from his pocket and pressed a button, causing the generator to break apart in a loud explosion.

"You son of a..."

The masked man walked forward menacingly. "One last thing. I may have said that I often tell the truth, but that does not mean I never lie. The gas I hit your friends with was nothing more than colored smoke. There was never any poison. That antidote in your hand is grape juice."

Beast Boy's eyes widened.

"And now, you're going to join your friend in Hell. Say hello for me, won't you?"

"Oh, I will," Cyborg's voice sounded from behind Slade and a sonic cannon blast sent the villain flying. Both of the Titans smirked as they advanced on the shocked criminal.

"But you were-"

"Dead? No, I could never make BB do something like that. He just deactivated my circuits for a couple minutes. Just a short catnap."

Slade's eye narrowed. It was a sign of how close the two friends were that Beast Boy actually knew that aspect of Cyborg's body. He had found out a lot about the way his friend's cybernetic portion functioned after accidentally infecting it with a virus. After exploring the many circuits which he did not understand, the central control portion, which he also did not understand, and all of the programs that helped run Cyborg's brain, which he also did not understand, there was one thing that he did find that would prove to be useful in this situation. One of Cyborg's weak points actually, an external temporary shutdown point that could be triggered by touching a certain part of his chest's circuitry. Not inclined to remember many things dealing with engineering or computers or such, in this case, Beast Boy had opted to remember all he could about the way his friend worked just in case. Because they were important to each other.

Slade snorted. "We'll meet again," he muttered, before backing away into the shadows. Cyborg and Beast Boy made a move to follow him and caught up quickly, sending the man flying into the wall in front of him. The duo pummeled their adversary into the ground like a punching bag and then up again, around this way and that, until the villain was sprawled on the ground, unmoving.

"Give it up, Slade. It's over. Just come quietly."

"Yeah, dude, you just got your ass kicked-"

"B, you really have no clue when to stop joking around, do you..."

"Sorry," he muttered. "But I mean come on, we just beat _Slade. _Can't we even celebrate a little?"

"Not until he's safely in jail."

"Indeed," came Slade's voice from the body on the ground, and suddenly the Titans sensed that something was up. Cyborg rushed forward and tore off the black and orange mask only to come face to face with a computer screen.

"No... not again... _Damn it!_" Cyborg punched the ground in frustration.

"Another time, perhaps. But for now, give my regards to Robin, won't you?" Slade's face on the screen blinked out and the only thing the two Titans were left with was a broken robot clone.

* * *

"I see," Robin muttered, holding a hand up to his chin. After the Titans had defeated the rest of the monsters and the HIVE, they had gathered back at the tower common room. Starfire, who typically went to bed very early, was already sleeping on the couch, and Raven had immediately gone up to her room, leaving the three males to discuss what had happened.

"Well, it's too bad Slade got away again, but it's not like we're going to catch him so easily. Did you bring the robot back?"

"Yeah, it's in the T-car," Cyborg replied. "But I doubt it'll give us much more information than the other ones did. I'm betting that he'll just vanish into thin air for a while like he always does."

"You mean he'll be hiding from us 'cause we beat his butt like a little girl!"

Both Robin and Cyborg sighed. "Anyway, good work stopping that generator. It's late, we can discuss the rest of it tomorrow after we get some sleep." And with that, Robin went off to his own room as well, leaving the two friends facing each other.

Beast Boy looked at Cyborg, who was staring down at him with an unreadable expression on his face. The green boy shifted uncomfortably. "So, uh... want to play a game or something or you wanna go sleep?"

His friend was still silent, still seeming to be angry about Beast Boy's joke earlier.

"C'mon dude, you know you can't resist a game of stankball!" He pulled out a ball of stinky socks out of nowhere (had he been keeping that in his back pocket? grosssssss)

Beast Boy threw the ball at Cyborg, who caught it and turned around, looking like he was about to leave.

"Alright I'm sorry! I'm sorry for making you so scared! I know you care about me, Cy. It's all my fault, I get it! Just please, please don't be mad anymore... please... I can't take it..."

"Fine."

Beast Boy's eyes widened before a huge smile appeared on his face. "You're forgiving me?"

"No," Cyborg's voice was flat, impassive. And then he turned around and threw the stankball into Beast Boy's face, sending him flying into the ground with the stench of his own unwashed socks in his face. "Now we're even. I forgive you," he smirked as his friend got up.

Beast Boy pointed a finger at him, trying to summon up the angriest face that he could, but he couldn't hold it for very long before he started laughing. And laughter, as everyone knows, is contagious, so it was not long before (despite his struggles not to) Cyborg began crying from laughter as well, and even Starfire, who was still asleep on the couch, giggled in her sleep.

* * *

Meh, this one wasn't too great, but hopefully it wasn't a complete failure.

Next up, Raven/Cyborg


	3. Raven and Cyborg

Disclaimer: Don't own Teen Titans, never have, never will

"Speech"

_Thoughts_

* * *

**Raven and Cyborg**

Cyborg grumbled to himself as he buffed out some scratches from the side of the T-car and wiped the bird poop off of the windows. He hated it when the "Beast Boy" happened to his car, but all for the common good, he supposed, since his green friend had taken down Adonis, after all. But who would've known that he would've also taken on a bird's anatomical functions when transforming into one? _I mean, god, BB, can't you even control your poopoo a little? Dammit man... _He continued mumbling under his breath until he heard thump from upstairs. Cyborg looked at the clock on his arm. 3:30 AM. Who else would be up at this time?

He frowned and went back to repainting the scratched areas. The only reason he was able to go so long without sleep was because he was part robot. As far as he knew, everyone else on the team needed at the very least 5 hours of rest (Robin came to mind), or even up to 10 hours (Beast Boy and Starfire, sometimes) a night. Nobody should've been up at this time.

But he heard it again, another thump. _Did someone break in? That's impossible, security's still up. Nobody could possibly get in or out without at least tripping the alarm. Hmm... _

He quickly finished repainting his car and headed upstairs to check out where the sound was coming from. As he got closer, he could hear more clearly the constant thumping sound occasionally punctuated by a louder thud. It sounded like it was coming from the training room. He violently shoved open the door.

"Yo! Who's in here making- oh."

Raven raised an eyebrow at him, pausing in mid kick. She didn't look surprised to see him at all, though that was to be expected since she had the ability to sense other people that were close by. Telepathy, empathy, one of her powers. He didn't quite remember which one.

Cyborg replied by raising an eyebrow at her as well. She was dressed in a black tank top and black yoga pants - black was Raven's thing, obviously - and... working out? Physical exercise didn't seem like Raven's thing.

"I'm only half demon, Cyborg," she snapped at him. "Like any normal person I have to do _some _exercise to keep in shape."

"At 3:30 in the morning?"

"It's 4 o'clock now, wise guy," she smirked. "And besides, I'm always awake at this time. Demon blood makes me more nocturnal than diurnal. Now, want to let me work out in peace?"

The robotic teen folded his arms over his chest. "Let's see how good your form is first."

Raven rolled her eyes but obliged. She sent a flurry of kicks at the bag, sending it flying this way and that before leaping in with vicious elbows and finishing with a couple of knees. She stopped for a moment to catch her breath before going in again, this time with a lower stance, her kicks morphing into more of a swiping motion that would knock her opponent of of his feet, and then finishing with a roundhouse kick, which she messed up slightly and ended up on the ground holding a bruised ankle.

Cyborg ran over to her. "You okay Rae?"

She glared at him. "My name's Raven, not Rae." Holding her ankle, her hand glowed blue for a moment and it was healed. "Screwed that one up," she muttered.

He laughed softly. "Don't worry about it. I took a long time to get roundhouse kicks right. Don't use 'em 'cause I'm not suited for the whole martial arts style though. Kickboxing's more my thing." He offered her a hand and she accepted, letting him pull her up off the ground.

Raven muttered a few curses under her breath before trying again, but she messed up yet again, this time losing her balance completely, landing hard on the ground. "Damn it."

"Yo, watch your language, Rae!" Cyborg thought of her as almost a little sister; and as it was with most big brothers, it was shocking to hear a younger sibling swear like that.

"Damn it," she murmured obstinately. She sat up and put a hand on her back, twisting to the side to stretch out the tensed muscles. And then she got up again and tried once more. The punching bag was sent flying backward with the force of her kick and it swung back, hitting her in the chest and knocking her backward. Cyborg caught her in mid air before she injured herself again by falling down.

Raven sighed. "Sort of..."

"That was great! Although you coulda done without the thing hitting you back."

Raven shrugged and wiped the sweat off of her face. "So, wanna spar or something?"

Cyborg looked up in surprise. _She wants to do something with me? She wants to **spar**_ _with me? _He looked at her suspiciously. "Are you really Raven?"_  
_

She blinked a couple times. "... Yes?"

"Yeah? Since when have you randomly started exercising? And willingly doing it with other people?"

Raven rolled her eyes. "Whatever. If you don't want to that's fine."

"The _real _Raven would never do something like this. You're a robot clone of her, aren't you!"

She raised an eyebrow. "Paranoid much?"

"Well if you really are the _real _Raven, then maybe you'd like to tell me what's inside her mirror."_  
_

"There's nothing inside my mirror-"

"Ha! I knew it!"

"- it's a portal to my mind. And I still remember when you and Beast Boy _went inside my room and screwed with my emotions!_" She bared her teeth at him angrily.

"Oh, so you _are _the real Raven. Heh, my bad. But why would you want to fight with me?"

She sighed, rubbing her temples. "Well who else am I going to practice on?"

"You've got your weird creepy dark magic power stuff. Why do ya need to be good at martial arts too?"

"My powers aren't weird! Or creepy!" Okay, maybe they were a bit weird and creepy, but it wasn't like she was going to admit it. "And if I ever get into a situation where I can't use them, then I need a backup, right?"

"Fair enough," Cyborg took a couple steps back and assumed a fighting stance. "Then let's get started."

Raven backed up as well and nodded, taking a bladed stance instead of her opponent's forward one. Cyborg made the first move, launching forward with a couple of quick punches which Raven side stepped. She redirected a powerful left hook over her shoulder and backed up again as he kicked at her knees. Caught off balance, she was forced to block another couple kicks with her arms cross in an x in front of her, but he was too powerful for her. Unable to dodge, Cyborg sent her flying into the wall behind her.

Raven got up quickly, breathing heavily, and moved her hair out of her eyes. She quickly dodged to the side as he closed in and punched the wall where she had just been standing and took a very low stance, bending at her knees with her torso bent over. Cyborg's kick barely grazed her on the side as she turned to dodge and then she countered, holding her body up with her hand and leg as her other leg shot forward and hit the inside of his knee. His leg buckled and she turned rapidly to her other side, hitting his other knee in the same fashion. Another couple turns and she targeted his sides, her kicks barely blocked by his arms.

"Screw it all," she muttered under her breath, and jumped up, trying to perform a roundhouse kick. Raven's eyes widened as Cyborg caught her mid motion, before her foot actually had enough momentum to hurt him.

"Too slow, Rae," he smirked, and threw her down, pinning her shoulders to the ground. "I win. You probably shouldn't have tried to use that move. You're not practice enough at it to perform it faster, so I had plenty of time to respond."

Raven rolled her eyes. "Want to let me up now, _master_," sarcasm practically dripped from her voice. She got up, smoothing out her clothes.

"It's so hard to fight you," the violet haired girl mumbled. "It's not like I have enough upper arm strength for my punches to hurt you and my kicks barely made you lose your balance as it is. But every one of your punches felt like getting hit by a truck."

He shrugged. "I'm better suited for physical combat. Nothing wrong with that. Don't feel down about it, Rae."

"I told you, my name's Raven," she glared at him. And then she relented. "But I guess it's okay. Call me whatever you want."

"Alright sista, ready for another round?"

She looked at him appraisingly. "Sista?"

"You said I could call you by whatever name I wanted to," he pointed out.

Raven sighed. "Okay, whatever. Let's try this again."

"Whatever floats your boat," Cyborg replied, and they both assumed their fighting stances.

This time Cyborg noticed that she didn't hold a firm footing on the ground and instead was light on her toes, dancing around evading his attacks. Of course, that almost meant that none of her body weight was behind her kicks, so they did practically nothing when they hit him. He watched carefully for any openings that she might show him, a momentary loss of balance, or maybe not turning fast enough to dodge one of his punches. But he had to admit she was pretty good; she wasn't giving him any chances at all.

He decided to switch to a different form, and backed off, narrowing his stance significantly. This would throw off his balance maybe, but it would allow him more mobility. Maybe he could catch her off guard. Darting forward, he smirked as he saw Raven's eyes widen at his increased speed, and threw a quick palm thrust. As he expected, she ducked under his blow rather than move to the side, knowing that he could just kick her if she did. He sent a knee up towards her chin and she arched her back backwards, the knee flying past her face as it traveled upward, and backflipped back into position.

"Close one," she muttered.

"Your reflexes are really good," he smiled. "I can even get Robin with that trick from time to time but you dodged it perfectly."

"Why thank you," there was an edge of sarcasm in her voice as usual, but he knew that she was actually enjoying herself. Not for long though.

He noticed that her dodging and counterattacks were getting messier, more impatient, probably because despite evading all of his punches and kicks, she couldn't do anything in return. He saw her take a firm foothold on her right leg and blocked her kick with his arm - _and damn, that hurt - _but he fought through the pain and knocked her foot off the ground. Raven's eyes widened as she fell down and he pinned her to the ground again.

"Booyah," he murmured.

Raven grumbled in frustration. She hated losing. Cyborg merely laughed at her and helped her up. "You could be a pretty decent fighter if you trained enough," he said to her. "Don't feel down just 'cause you couldn't beat me." He sat down and grabbed two towels from the nearby towel rack, holding one out to her.

The violet haired girl turned away and kicked the nearby punching bag violently, venting her frustration. But then to his surprise, she accepted his towel and sat down beside him, draping it around her neck.

"That wasn't too bad," she said softly. "Would've been much better if I actually had a chance of beating you though."

"Not in a million years, Rae."

She glared at him but then her face broke into a smile. "That was fun though," she admitted. "I didn't think that physical exercise would be so refreshening."

"Well now you know. You should really try it more often. Good way to relieve stress. I mean, I get why you're usually so tense and stuff with that demon inside you..."

He broke off as Raven shot him a death stare and punched him on the arm. And then withdrew her throbbing hand, cradling it. "Shouldn't have done that," she said, bemused. "Stupid metal arm. Stupid robot man. Can't even put a scratch on him when I hit him."

Cyborg patted her shoulder. "Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it eventually. Maybe you should come train with us on a regular basis if you're intent on getting better. Besides, it's probably pretty relaxing for you."

"I don't do physical exercise," she grumbled. "Except out of necessity."_  
_

"Whatever you say," he smiled at her knowingly and Raven left, muttering things about "stupid sparring and the stupid metal man having an unfair advantage."

And indeed, she didn't show up at the next day's morning martial arts practice, nor at the day after's practice. And things went back to normal, with her only coming to afternoon training sessions and using her powers for mostly defensive and support purposes only. But late one night, when Cyborg was busy fixing up the T-ship, he thought he heard a familiar sound from the training room. Smiling to himself, he headed up the stairs and opened the door to the sight of his violet friend kicking away at a punching bag. She turned around as she sensed him enter and brushed the hair out of her face before taking a fight stance.

"I've gotten better, don't worry," she smiled a little.

"I don't doubt that," he replied, and they began sparring again.

* * *

A/N: I feel like Cyborg and Raven are usually pretty comfortable around one another, so there's not really much conflict at all in this chapter, just two friends having fun.

On a side note, I happened to have Raven mimic my own fighting style, since I'm kinda on the smaller side. Whenever fighting a bigger opponent, I like taking a bladed stance and staying light on my feet, since it's usually tough to block and take punches (since bigger people tend to hit harder, so dodging is easier on my body), but of course this means that hitting back is also harder. Of course if it's a dangerous situation, this means that you can just dodge around while waiting for help; you don't actually have to beat your opponent.

Frontal stances are typically more boxing based, and bladed ones are more from martial arts - and as one might imagine, boxing involves more punches, and martial arts usually involve more kicking (since reaching into punch a guy who's bigger than you probably isn't a great idea unless you have a speed advantage)

Just thought it might be interesting to share this :p

Next up, Beast Boy and Starfire


	4. Beast Boy and Starfire

Disclaimer: Teen Titans not mine

This one was kinda hard to write, so I just tried to have a bit of fun with it and make the whole thing a big practical joke... hopefully I portrayed the characters decently but if I didn't meh, I'll get better at it eventually :p

"Speech"

_Thoughts_

* * *

**Beast Boy and Starfire**

"Hey Star," Beast Boy approached the alien princess from behind and tapped her on the shoulder.

She turned around with a wide smile on her face. "Why hello there friend Beast Boy! How may I assist you?"

The green Titan stuck his hand behind his back and held his other one out to her, as if he were advertising something to her. Well, he was. "So you've seen Killer Moth, Kitten, and Larvae M3-19, aka Silkie, but you've never seen anything like this before. From the proud finders of the mutant moth larva Silkie comes a new product..." and suddenly he whipped out his hand, holding another mutant moth larva identical to Silkie. "Milkie!"

Awkward silence.

"Please, please, settle down. Don't get too hyped up about this folks, there's plenty to go around."

"Beast Boy," Starfire said inquiringly. "Could you not have come up with a better name?"

He gave her a pouty face. "What's wrong with Milkie? I mean, he even likes milk!" Beast Boy pulled out a bottle of milk and tried to feed it to the moth larva, which turned its face away and gave off a squeaking sound.

"Um... Beast Boy, I do not think he likes it..."

"Don't worry about it." He tried once more, forcibly shoving the pacifier lid into Milkie's mouth. A moment later, he had milk spewed all over him. Starfire giggled and took the creature from Beast Boy's arms, hugging it to her chest.

"Oh you are so cute! Just like my little bumgorf Silkie. But we must find you a better name. I shall go inquire the others about this!" She left her green friend standing there, blinking. A moment later, he facepalmed, finally realizing that he had milk all over his face.

* * *

_Robin: _

"Starfire, I don't think-"

"He is so wonderful, is he not? Beast Boy wanted to call him Milkie, but I am sure that there are many better names for him. What do you think, friend Robin?"

"Um, Star, are you sure-"

"Why yes, the Milkie just does not have the same oh what do you call it," she put a hand to her chin, trying to think of the word. "Cute, I think it is called? On my planet, we do not have this word."

"The name Milkie isn't as cute as Silkie?"

"Yes! I knew you would agree with me, Robin! But now I do not know what to call him."

"Star, I'm not sure we should-"

"Yes of course, you are right. I must go consult the others as well and see what they think. Oh, thank you for your help friend Robin!" She gave him a big hug, squeezing all the breath out of him, and left to go see Raven and Cyborg.

* * *

_Raven: _

Raven muttered something about seppuku and naming moth larvae before retreating back into the darkness of her room.

* * *

_Cyborg: _

"Cy, I'm telling you, it's not as bad as you think it is!"

"No way man, I ain't drinkin' that stuff. I'm not doin' it. Get away from me!"

Starfire walked into the kitchen to find Beast Boy threatening Cyborg with what seemed to be a glass of... soymilk? "Friends!" She declared happily and rushed towards them. She held up the moth larva in front of her. Cyborg merely looked at her strangely and Beast Boy facepalmed.

"Star, what are you doing with Silkie?" The robotic teen inquired.

"That's not Silkie, Cy. I found another one of 'em and named it Milkie, but nooo, Star didn't approve of it so now she's goin' around asking you guys for a better name. Oh, and before you ask, he loves milk."

Cyborg raised an eyebrow. Beast Boy shrugged and tried to feed the soymilk to the little larva but it spewed it out at him as it had done with the milk earlier.

"Right. Uh, Star, you sure getting another one of those things is a good idea?"

"But even Robin approves!"

"Yeah, doubt that," Beast Boy replied. "But nobody cares about what Rob says anyway. If you wanna keep him, keep 'im."

Cyborg raised his hands as if in surrender. "Aight, do what you want. But I'm staying out of this." He left with his glass of _milk. _Screw that soyshit.

Starfire huffed at her green friend and looked at him accusingly. "You made friend Cyborg go away on purpose. Now I will never find a good name for him," she looked down at the little moth thingy sadly.

"Star, I didn't - hey! Milkie's a great name! You're just jealous of my awesome name making abilities," he made a heroic pose that was completely unrelated to the subject at hand. Starfire looked at him as if _he _were the alien.

"Perhaps I shall go see the Killer Moth and the Kitten and see what they think."

Beast Boy's eyes bugged out. "You sure that's a good idea?"

"It is okay. The Kitten and Killer Moth may not be the ... nicest... people, but they are unable to harm me."

"Right... I'll go with you just in case."

Starfire beamed at him and grabbed his wrist, flying out of the window and shattering the glass in her eagerness.

* * *

"What? I haven't done anything! Leave me alone!" Killer Moth tried to close his front door in their faces but Beast Boy jumped forward quickly and held it open.

"We're... argh... not here... uf... to beat the crap out of you!" He struggled with Killer Moth with a moment before kicking him out of the way. Actually, he had just contradicted himself. "Oops."

"Not beating the crap out of me my ass - ow!" Beast Boy hit him again. "Why are you doing this? I told you, I'm innocent! I'm not scheming or anything, I swear!"

"'Cause its kinda fun," Beast Boy smiled and kicked him once more before letting the moth-man thing get up.

Killer Moth grumbled a little but waved toward Starfire. "I guess you might as well come in. Would you like something to drink?"

"Some soymilk?"

"... what's that supposed to be? Some sort of poison?"

Beast Boy bashed his head into a wall. "No! It's a drink! Made from tofu!"

The supposed villain (who was pretty bad at being a super villain) almost puked when he heard that. "Who eats tofu anyway?"

"Please, do not make fun of my friend and his... strange tastes..."

"You're one to talk, Star. The stuff that you eat..."

Her eyes blazed. "It is the filling and delicious food of my home planet! You have not tried it yet so you do not know the wonders of Tameranian food-"

"Right," Killer Moth looked back and forth between the two teenagers, wonder what a good parent would do when he saw two kids fight. He actually sort of tried to be a good father/adult... well, he wasn't, but he tried at least.

"Um... let's settle down kids," he tried to speak over their bickering. "Right... you came here for something from me. You shouldn't be arguing-"

"Stay out of this!" They both yelled at him and punched him into his own kitchen counter.

"Will you guys shut up! I can't talk to Fang in peace when everyone's yelling so loudly - oh," Kitten appeared in the kitchen doorway and froze when she saw the two Titans. "What are you guys doing here?" She looked at them suspiciously.

"Beating me up apparently," Killer Moth grumbled from the floor, still dazed by the force of both of their punches.

"Father!" Kitten ran over to him and helped him up. She turned back to the two Titans furiously. "What do you guys want! We haven't done anything! Just leave us alone!"

"Um..."

Starfire pulled out the little moth larva from her pocket. "Friend Beast Boy wanted to call him by the name Milkie but it is not a very good name, so I was hoping you could help me think of a better name."

Kitten's eyes bugged out. This was absurdly frivolous, even for her. "You came here just for that?"

"I know right!" Beast Boy agreed with her. "Like, what the heck-"

"I didn't ask for your input, ya lil' green booger," Kitten snarled at him. Beast Boy turned into a little kitten with sad eyes in response. The blonde's attitude toward him suddenly changed and she rushed forward, hugging him to her chest. "So cute!" She squealed.

"Daughter, I think you are choking him to-"

"Shut up daddy! He's _my_ toy!"

Killer Moth turned tiny and scuttled away.

"Kitten I am not sure you should treat your father like this-"

"Silence! Do you want me to give him a name or not!"

"Um... okay..."

"Let me see him."

Starfire held the moth larva up for Kitten to see. The larva squirmed in her hands, seeming to be scared of the blonde girl.

"Hmph. Call him slugpile or something," she waved at Starfire dismissively. "Can I keep the kitty?"

The Tameranian stomped her foot on the ground, fuming. Beast Boy looked at her with his giant kitten eyes as if to say 'I told you coming here wasn't going to be useful.' Starfire's glare turned on him and he squirmed, still in kitten form, in Kitten's arms. (kittens everywhere lol). He tried to squeak but it only came out as a scared 'meow,' and Starfire's angry green eyes quickly shifted into a pair of pink hearts instead. She jumped at Kitten to try to grab kitten Beast Boy from her arms, wanting to snuggle with the little animal herself. And the poor little moth larva was dropped unceremoniously to the ground, where it lay there looking very sad.

"He's mine!" Kitten growled at the red haired girl, trying to keep the alien away from her, but Starfire had the strength of a hundred women (and a hundred men). "You bitch!" She screamed as Starfire managed to tug Beast Boy away from her. The alien girl giggled in delight and smooshed the kitten Beast Boy against her chest.

And then the green Titan turned into a slug.

An ear splitting shriek ran throughout Killer Moth's house and a moment later, something green was blasted out of the roof, flying away into the distance. A red streak followed quickly after, but then stopped as soon as it got to about 50ft above the house, realizing that it had forgotten something. It dove back down and a moment later, it flew after the green thing it had blasted into the distance, holding a little mutant moth larva in its arms.

* * *

_Back in the Titans' common room..._

"Star, how long are you gonna keep thinkin' of a new name for him? You should just-"

She glared at him and he shut up immediately. After she had chased him around the city for two hours, he had decided that she was even scarier than Raven was. Poor Beast Boy, but even he had to admit that he was the ideal candidate for being the punching bag of the team. That being said, he did deserve it sometimes considering the amount of practical jokes he played on his friends. Then again, his arguments with Cyborg about tofu were actually legit. And he did mean it when he said that Raven tended to shun them too much. But otherwise... _  
_

Naw, he couldn't lay off the pranks. It was just who he was. Even Mento had accepted that, well sort of.

He looked at Starfire as she dug out a few of her Tameranian foods and began feeding the little moth larva, finding that it liked that weird stuff that she called zorkaberries the most out of everything she fed it. And then it clicked.

"Oh! I shall just call you Berry!"

"Right... like that's any better than the name I gave-"

Starfire growled at him and Beast Boy smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "I'll just let you call him whatever you want." He turned to leave. And then he turned back. "But you know, Star, that moth thingy isn't what you think it is."

"Hmm?" She was busy tickling the moth larva's stomach and it was croaking happily at her.

"Uh... how do I put this... that's Silkie."

She continued playing with it absentmindedly and didn't respond. Beast Boy shrugged and continued.

"I stole him from your room and just pretended I found another one of 'em. It was a joke, ya know. A joke," he laughed weakly, unsure of what to expect from the alien girl.

"I already knew that," she replied after a moment, still busy playing with Silkie.

"What? You did? But how did you-"

She huffed and glared at him. "I am not as blind as you think I am," she pulled out a very poor stuffed animal imitation of Silkie from behind her. "Next time you must find a better replacement for my bumgorf if you wish for me to believe your... your..." She searched for the word.

"Joke?"

"Yes, your joke. I have learned to be more careful ever since the day you got me with the balloon filled with... stuff." She smiled sweetly, a little too sweetly at him. It was quite unnerving actually. Of course, Starfire was a lot more intelligent than she let on, if only a bit naive. But she was also a masterful manipulator of other people when she wanted to be.

Pretending to be furious at him, she grinned evilly and her eyes glowed green - to Beast Boy, she looked like a vicious devil with rows of sharp teeth and long claws, ready to pounce on him. (Not quite unlike what she looked like when she was eating Tamaranian style). Turning into a little kitten, he meowed meekly and ran away before she could jump him, whimpering all the way down the hallway.

Starfire giggled as he left and went back to playing with Silkie. Her idea of a joke was a little more... scary than his, she supposed, but nothing wrong with having a little fun. Starfire closed her eyes and hummed softly to herself as her little bumgorf nuzzled against her neck happily.

* * *

A/N: Okay, this chapter was just plain weird. I don't know about you, but I felt like the ending was even a little bit creepy.

But the whole idea was that Starfire was just pretending to go along with Beast Boy's joke the whole time - she is a lot smarter than a lot of people give her credit for (in the show I mean), even if she seems innocent at first. And coming from a warrior culture with Blackfire as her sister, we can't have her being nice and fuzzy all the time, can we? She gets to have her own pretend anger and creepy fun too :).

Anyway, next up will be Beast Boy and Robin.


	5. Robin and Beast Boy

Disclaimer: Don't own Teen Titans

Another difficult one to write, Beast Boy and Robin do fight with each other sometimes, but I didn't want to write that into this chapter, so I had to come up with something different. Hopefully it turned out okay, and I didn't screw up the characterization too much (I'm getting better, I swear!).

"Speech"

_Thoughts_

* * *

**Robin and Beast Boy**

_Halloween, or, Raven's House of Terror...: _

Robin sighed to himself as he and Beast Boy headed back to the tower. The green boy had _insisted _on dragging him along to go trick or treating and would not hear of anything else. And since Cyborg had gone with Sarah to a Halloween party, Robin was the only logical choice to drag along (Starfire usually was sleeping by about 11:00 pm, which was when Beast Boy had decided to set out). And that also meant dressing up in costume. Beast Boy, being as clever as he was, had decided to be Mento (not that that costume was very different from his own, besides the hat and mask), and Robin, to his great surprise, had decided to be... the Batman! He hoped that Bruce wouldn't mind.

But anyway, they had gotten plenty of candy, and as much as he tried to deny it, Robin did have fun. Although he felt like he was really getting too old for the whole trick or treating thing - he _was _sixteen after all, and fun as it was, it wasn't something for someone his age.

"Hey Rob..." Beast Boy plucked at his leader's dark cape, and Robin turned around stiffly, not used to his old mentor's battle suit.

"What's up, Beast Boy? Something wrong?"

"Yeah... isn't it a bit too quiet or somethin'? The Tower's not usually this dark... or creepy."

Robin shrugged. "It's 1:00 am. Nobody's usually up at this time. Well, besides Raven. But she'd be in her room anyway."

"Right... you go in first!" Beast Boy pushed Robin into the elevator that took them up to the Tower's common room. It was completely silent and so dark that he could barely see his hand in front of him. Robin frowned. Beast Boy had been right, therewas something wrong after all.

He tried to turn on the lights, but they flickered once, revealing something huge and shadowy in the middle of the room before going out. The two Titans were on guard instantly and not a little freaked out. They waited, unsure of what to do, the deathly silence only broken by the sound of heavy breathing.

"Robin," Beast Boy's voice trembled, "I'm scared."

"Shh!"

Robin tensed up even more as the sound got closer and closer to them, but what was really unnerving was the fact that he couldn't even sense the creature at all. Except for by the noises it was making, he couldn't even tell it was there at all. And then there was suddenly something breathing on the backs of their necks, moist and humid air indicating that it was right behind them. Both Titans wheeled around and screamed like little girls, but then they realized there was nothing there. They flailed around nervously in the darkness, moving into the common room itself to try to see what was going on. But it was too dark.

And then there was a scream and a flash of lightning, revealing the huge dark figure near the windows, holding what seemed to be a petite girl in its arms. The light was gone an instant later, followed by another, horrible, choked off scream, and then the sound of something eating. Crunching through bones.

Wide eyed and _very _scared, the pair backed away slowly from the direction of the sounds.

"What do we do now?" Beast Boy whispered.

"You tell me," Robin muttered. "Like I'm supposed to know."

"But you're our leader!"

"Shhh, keep your voice down or it'll hear us!"

"Uh, I think it already did! Run!" Beast Boy pointed into the darkness, where four red eyes gleamed out at them, growing larger as the thing came closer.

With terrified expressions on their faces, the two Titans sprinted for the elevator, looking back over their shoulders every couple seconds. The creature was a clear outline of something even darker than the complete darkness of the Tower itself, a shadowy shape that grew steadily larger even though they could not hear it moving toward them. The Titans reached the elevator and Beast Boy pressed the down button frantically, but the elevator wasn't working! The creature charged at them, and they closed their eyes and BAM!

* * *

It disappeared. Robin opened his eyes first after they realized that they hadn't been pulverized after all. Letting out the breath that he had been holding in, he tapped his still cowering friend on the shoulder.

"It's okay. Whatever it was, it's gone now."

Beast Boy opened his eyes slowly, nervously, and exchanged a glance with Robin. The thing might have been gone, but there was still the unnatural darkness and the deathly silence. They both looked at the elevator at the same time.

"We can't just leave... Star and Raven might be in danger."

"You kidding me? I'm not stayin' around here just to get my ass kicked by something we can't beat. We'd be useless if those things showed up to get Star and Rae. We gotta get help."

Robin pushed the down button on the elevator again, but it still didn't work. "Not an option," he replied. "We'll just have to deal with this ourselves."

Beast Boy groaned. And then he remembered something. "Wait, Rob, you remember that time Raven got really scared from that movie?"

"Yeah? Why?"

"Well I was just thinking, that monster had four eyes, right? Whenever Rae gets really mad and goes all demonic on us, she also has four eyes, and that time me and Cy went into her mind everything had four eyes-"

"Get to the point."

"Basically, what if something scared her again and this is another one of her tricks?"

"Possible. But we can't be careless. I get the sense that whatever that thing was, it was _very _dangerous. Still, I guess we should try to get to Raven's room and see if she can help us."

They both looked backed at the vast, expansive blackness in front of them. Suddenly, the trip to Raven's room seemed like a very long journey.

* * *

Inching down the corridor, the two Titans tried to move as quietly as they could, especially as they could see nothing at all in the void around them. Robin took out his communicator for some light, but it barely penetrated the oppressive darkness, forming only a tiny bubble of brightness around them. They didn't even know if they were going the right way.

Yet another scream echoed down the hallway and both of them froze, looking fearfully in the direction of the noise.

"That sounded... Starfire..."

Robin gritted his teeth. "Too close to be her, unless she left her room. Probably another trick."

"Uh, Rob..." Beast Boy pointed and held up his own communicator for a bit more light.

Out of the darkness, an extremely bloody and grievously wounded Starfire staggered forward, looking like she was on the verge of passing out or dying.

"Starfire!" Robin ran forward, eyes wide with shock. "Star! Speak to me!" He caught her before she collapsed to the ground.

"Ro-bin..." Her eyes closed and she was dead.

"No!" Robin screamed and cradled her body. "Nooo! How could this happen! Argh! I swear I'll find whoever did this and-"

But before he could finish his sentence, the unnatural darkness seemed to come alive around them and blotted out their lights completely, casting them into a mute void once again. And Starfire's body in his arms disappeared.

Four, tiny red eyes opened in the darkness followed by the squeak of what seemed to be a mouse. And then thousands of eyes appeared behind the original four - a swarm of mice - looking at them, blinking. The two Titans held up their communicators once more and the light was back, revealing not the horde of mice that they expected, but one _huge _mouse with tons of red eyes all over its body.

"Now that's just wrong..."

The mouse squeaked at Beast Boy, as if offended. Leaping forward, it opened its mouth and swallowed him whole. Robin screamed and ran forward after his brain had time to process what had just happened. He jammed his staff against the mouse's teeth but the thing was too strong and it threw him back with a flick of his head.

"Beast Boy!" He shouted. No response. "Answer me!"

The mouse's many eyes narrowed and it leapt forward again, but right before it hit him, it was gone and Beast Boy was back, completely unharmed... well, physically at least.

"Ugh..." he shuddered. "Getting eaten alive is one of my worst fears..." He sat up and rubbed his head. "But I'm tellin' ya Rob, Raven's gotta be the one behind this. She's just making _our _fears reality. Star dying is one of the things that scares you the most, right?"

Robin blushed. "Shut up."

Beast Boy smirked at him. "C'mon, you don't need to hide it. Err, you can't hide it. It's not like we don't know already-"

"Shut up and let's just keep going!"

"Alright alright, sheesh," the green Titan held up his hands in surrender and followed his not so fearless leader into the darkness again.

* * *

They reached the doors to the common room and cautiously peeked around the corner into the vast void before them. Lightning flashed periodically, illuminating the room in bursts of blue light; they could hear a violent storm brewing outside but other than that there was no other sound at all.

"You go first," Beast Boy pushed Robin forward into the room and then ran a little ways back as if using his leader as bait for whatever monster was waiting in the room.

"Beast Boy... what are you so scared of? It's not like Raven's powers are going to hurt us-"

His green friend pointed behind him, teeth chattering in fright. "Say that after you beat him."

A giant green werebeast thing - Robin recognized it as the form that Beast Boy had used when he had abducted Raven and fought Adonis - snarled and attacked immediately, knocking Robin's communicator out of his hand. Now surrounded by complete darkness, he had to rely on instincts and hearing alone to fend off the werebeast. A slight shift in the wind indicated a punch, or maybe a kick, and he ducked aside before striking back at where the blow had come from. He missed, but felt the air move as the beast seemed to go behind him. But his perceptions in complete darkness were not perfect and he caught sight of the beast above him as a bolt of lightning flashed outside. As it dropped down to ambush him, Beast Boy came up and rammed it in the ribs in rhino form.

"Back to back," he muttered grimly. "I fought in that form so I know how to beat it. We gotta form a defense and not let it catch us from behind. If it tries to overpower one of us, we gotta back each other up."

Robin nodded and pressed his back to Beast Boy's, listening carefully for any sign of movement in the darkness. The lightning flashed again and it slide tackled him to the ground - somehow completely silently. Beast Boy quickly shifted to gorilla form and roared, pounding down towards where he thought the werebeast would be. But it was gone again, leaving Robin's Batman costume slightly torn on one arm. Completely silently again, it leapt off of a wall as lightning lit up the room momentarily, and both Titans barely turned in time to see it rocketing at them. This time it scratched Beast Boy on the chest, drawing blood. And it was gone again.

"I... don't think... that Raven's powers... are harmless... this time..." he panted at Robin, who was breathing heavily as well.

"Yeah well-arg!" Robin was choked off as a furry arm wrapped around the front of his neck and pulled him into a headlock. Beast Boy followed the sounds of his struggling and flew at the beast, clawing its eyes as a pterodactyl. Another flash of lightning and the blue light revealed that nothing was in the room with them. But their wounds were very real.

"Rob, you okay?" He held out a hand to his friend and pulled him up.

"Yeah... Just give me a moment..." He took a deep breath and groped around in the darkness for his communicator. Eventually he found it and flipped the cover open for a bit of light. Robin stood up, face set into a thoughtful frown. These things were supposed to be what they were most afraid of, or at least things that frightened them a lot, if Raven's powers were really at work here. He turned to face Beast Boy, who had already begun walking toward the hall to Raven's room.

"Why are you scared of that thing?"

Beast Boy froze mid step. "Why does that matter?"

"So you are scared of it?"

His green friend's head bent toward the ground. "Yeah," he admitted reluctantly. "I am. Why?"

"Nothing. It's just... if Raven's making our biggest fears come to life, then we should have a pretty good idea of what's coming next is all." Robin looked carefully at his friend's face and saw the hidden sadness in it. He walked over and put a hand on the shorter teen's shoulder. "Anything you want to talk about?"

"I... well, it's just... I hate that form so much 'cause it reminded me of the time I attacked you guys. I'm just afraid I'll get so angry and lose myself and end up hurting someone I don't want to. It's just so scary cuz I almost k-killed R-Raven when I t-turned into t-that t-thing..." He stuttered a little.

"Garfield, you're not that monster anymore. That was a one time thing and you were being affected by chemicals so it wasn't even your fault. Look, we all know you'd _never _hurt anyone you didn't mean to, well... besides with your practical jokes, but that's another story."

Beast Boy cracked a small grin at that.

"But yeah, I trust you completely. You've never been a monster and you never will be. There's no need to be scared of yourself or your own power."

The green Titan looked a little happier. "Thanks bro."

"Don't mention it-" Robin was cut off as a high pitched scream rang throughout the corridor that led to Raven's room and their heads snapped in the direction of the noise. Lightning flashed, revealing the two Titans backing away from the door as something pounded on it, trying to break straight through. They readied themselves and light burst through the room once more, revealing a man with a black and orange mask with only one eye.

"No surprise there," Beast Boy muttered, to which Robin concurred. Everyone knew that Slade was at once Robin's worst enemy and possibly his greatest fear. He was scared that they were both so alike, that he could possibly become such a villain some day, especially since he had all the traits necessary to be one. The only thing that was really different between them was...

"He works alone. You've got friends," Beast Boy said confidently from beside him, knowing that Robin probably needed a little reassurance. He always got so jittery when fighting the villain.

"Actually, I'm not the thing you're afraid of, am I?" Slade spoke and both of them jumped in surprise. "I'm not Slade... I'm..."

His shape morphed quickly. "... the Batman..." His voice matched the dark knight's perfectly.

"... what? You scared of ol' bats? That's a great joke! Say, I should make you _my _apprentice!" A jovial voice sounded from behind them and the Joker appeared when the next bolt of lightning illuminated the room.

Beast Boy raised an eyebrow at his friend but was shot down with a glare. "Alright alright, I won't ask. Just run!"

They pushed Batman out of the way and rushed down the hall surrounded by a thin barrier of light, and from behind them, they could hear the sounds of illusion Batman and Joker fighting.

"Why so serious? So seriousssss!"

_Stupid Joker. Go back to your nuthole in Arkham already. _

They heard some sort of explosion behind them, one powerful enough to shake the entire Tower as the blast was emitted, and Robin could not help but look back over his shoulder even though he couldn't see more than an inch into the inky blackness. One of his biggest fears - that somehow someone would one day get the better of Batman and he'd be left without his de facto father. And his closest friend. He may have had fights with Batman, but the superhero had been the one to drag him out of the darkness that was the crime and lawlessness of Gotham, but most of all, his own hatred and anger. They had a relationship closer than just those of normal friends, and Robin was more fearful as the days passed and Bruce grew older. But it was only an illusion, he had to remind himself.

"Robin!" Beast Boy shook him and the Titan came out of his thoughts.

"Sorry," he murmured. "Was distracted."

"Yeah, I could tell. Dude, look, don't worry. I'll bet you anythin' that Batman would kick your ass any day right now, and Slade's ass, and anyone's ass he wishes to kick. You don't gotta worry about him," he tried to encourage his friend.

"I know that," Robin replied. But he still held that fear in his heart, no matter how invincible Bruce seemed usually.

"Look, don't sweat it, Rob. Just relax and forget about it. Batman's probably in a lot less danger than we are normally. Just relax and let him do his thing and you do yours."

"Yeah, but..."

"But what? I mean, he's way stronger than us right? There's no way-"

"That's not what I'm talking about," Robin was slowly backing away from the four red eyes that had appeared in the darkness. "We've got a problem..."

Raven, or was it an illusion Raven? stepped towards them and the dim light of Robin's communicator revealed a red colored cloak, the hood pulled up over her head, revealing nothing but shadow and eyes beneath it, no sign of her face at all.

And then a mouth filled with razor sharp teeth opened. Raven roared at them and glided forward with a mass of tentacles squiggling from underneath her cloak.

"That Rae's not real! Run!" Beast Boy shouted at Robin they ran, but fake Raven was faster. She caught up quickly enough and soon they were being dragged in, screaming, to the dark gap in her cloak.

"Raven! Stop!" "Please Rae!"

Of course, it wasn't like demon Raven was going to listen to them, and slowly the dark, chilling gap was upon them...

But then a horde of Ravens with cloaks of a myriad of colors leapt out from the darkness and beat back the red Raven, leaving Beast Boy and Robin on the ground, recovering from her attack. They exchanged a glance.

"You're scared of her?" They both said at the same time.

Beast Boy shrugged. "I mean, yeah, it's hard not to be scared of Rae. 'specially when she goes all demon mistress overlord on you."

Robin silently concurred. He wasn't afraid of many people for who they were, but Raven certainly could be frightening when unsettled. And then that thought was wiped from his mind as a pink cloak filled his vision and a grey hand extended out to him. Pink Raven - he wondered which one that was - helped him up and gave him a _huge _smile before pulling him in and kissing him on the lips. It wasn't just some little wimpy kiss either... she had _French kissed _him. Beast Boy's eyes bugged out at that sight and after the image had registered in his brain, he let out a long low whistle. Raven smirked at him and then disappeared to go fight the red cloaked one with the rest of them.

"I didn't know you felt that way about her, Rob," Beast Boy winked at him.

"I - bleagfhg - asdflshaf -" Robin couldn't form any coherent words.

Beast Boy put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, I'm sure Star will understand."

Robin crossed his arms and glared at Beast Boy before running over to the door to Raven's room and knocking it down (whoa, Robin has the strength to do that? Only when he's mentally disturbed :p).

The unnatural darkness around them slowly vanished and the Titans' Tower returned to normal, star and moonlight shining in through the windows, illuminating the unconscious body of a girl laying face down on the floor. Raven's limbs were splayed everywhere and her violet hair shadowed her face, but the slow, steady rise and fall of her chest signaled that she was probably asleep.

They both ran over to her and gently shook her, but she didn't wake up. That was strange. She was usually a very light sleeper.

"Raven... Ravveeennnn..." "Wakey wakey..."

They flipped her onto her back and carried her to her bed, setting her down on the soft blankets. After a few moments, one lilac eye finally opened and she looked at them, slightly confused.

"What... are you guys doing in my room? Why are you looking at me so strangely?"

They exchanged a glance and smirked to each other, before leaving a very puzzled Raven to her own devices.

* * *

A/N: So, yeah, this one was really hard to write, but hopefully it came out okay.

Anyway, I'm done writing all these super hard ones right now (my brain's practically fried, so... the quality of my writing isn't quite up to what it normally is... hehe sorry) Next up will be an easier one - Robin/Raven.


	6. Robin and Raven

Disclaimer: Teen Titans not mine

Ah... sweet sweet Robin/Raven... nah, I'm just kidding, but this one was a ton easier to write than most of the others. It just comes a lot more naturally to me, so yeah. (I do like the pairing, but this chapter isn't quite a romantic scene between the two so much as... well I won't give it away. You'll just have to read and see if you like it.)

* * *

**Robin and Raven**

It had been a very busy day. Either the villains were getting stronger, or security at the prison was getting lax, but the fact was that the Titans had had to deal with _four _attacks in the same day.

And that wasn't even the worst of it. Robin looked outside at the darkened city, still finishing filling out the reports and information he had gathered after the attacks, even though it was already 1:00 AM. No, the worst part was, they had been down a member - Raven hadn't shown up to any of the fights.

It was rare enough that one of them sat out on any battle and that was usually due to either illness or simply being away for something else (like the time when had Robin visited Gotham and the HIVE had used the opportunity to strike... that had been unpleasant), but _never _had Raven sat out before. She didn't have anything else to do and he supposed that if she did get injured, she would recover quickly, being a half demon and all. Robin sighed. He was worried about her, even though he knew that she was probably the strongest member of the team: after all, she had beaten an interdimensional demon god in battle and was practically half-divine herself. But then again, given the range of her moods, which basically were from angry to depressed and sometimes frustrated on a good day, he definitely had a right to worry.

_Maybe I'll go to her room after I finish up here. She probably won't let me in or even answer... but it's worth a shot. _Actually, Robin thought he rather liked the way she had set up her room. It might have been dark and creepy to most people, but it reminded him a lot of Gotham, his home. It was something he had gotten used to and enjoyed a little, more so than the bright sunny days in Jump (although he still was a morning person and like to watch the sunrise. But in his defense, Batman had like to do that too, and he was _anything _but bright and sunny.)

1:45 AM. Robin sighed and grumbled under his breath, pounding his fist on the table. He was never going to get all of this stuff done. For some reason, he just couldn't focus at all and slowly exhaustion was catching up to him. Unlike Batman, or Raven, he was not nocturnal. Getting up from his computer chair, he left his room and went down to the kitchen to get some coffee.

Practically sleepwalking down the hallway, he yawned as the doors to the common room opened, rubbing his eyes. And then opening them again, he noticed that there was someone standing in the darkness, making what smelled like... tea?

"Raven?" He murmured, still half asleep. He walked over and flicked on the light over the kitchen counter, shining on her midnight blue cloak with the hood pulled over her head. "Where were you today?"

"Sick," she whispered, her voice hoarse and painful to listen to. Robin pulled down her hood and looked at her face.

She indeed looked terrible - the whites of her eyes were all red and there were dark shadows all around them, making her look as tired as she probably was. Raven coughed into her hand and stared at the mist of blood left on her pale skin.

_Tuberculosis maybe,_ she projected her thoughts out to him rather than use her voice.

Robin looked at her seriously. "If that's the case we have to get you to a hospital."

**_No!_** The force of her thought was like a blow to his head and actually made Robin stagger. _Sorry. But you know I can't do that. If I go to a hospital and they test my blood, they'll find out I'm not human. And then..._

"Raven..." Robin seemed very concerned to her. Why? Why was he worrying about her so much? Nobody ever worried about her like this, not over something so little at least. Even when Trigon had come, her friends hadn't been worried for her so much as him taking over her. Raven knew that they did care about her as a friend, but they also knew that she was strong and could handle... and prefer to handle a lot of things by herself.

Well, besides Robin apparently. Although she had to admit that she did like having someone who was genuinely troubled that she was hurt. Even if just a little.

"... Raven are you listening? Hello? I said, coughing up blood is _never _a good sign of anything. You might die if it's a particularly bad infection. You have to see a doctor."

Raven coughed up a bit more blood and sniffled a little. Ugh. She had never felt so bad in her entire life. _Feel like my brain's on fire, and I can't even breathe at all. Nose is all stuffed up and every time air travels down my throat I just start coughing again. _She took a sip of her tea and grimaced as she tasted the irony blood mixed with the slightly bitter liquid. _Maybe I should sleep early today. _Well, early for Raven was 2:00 AM apparently.

"... Raven, stop zoning out. Here, first thing tomorrow morning I'll take you to the hospital and we'll get you checked up. It doesn't matter if they find out you're not human, I'll explain to the press or something."

Raven rolled her eyes. _No. I'll be fine. Just let me rest for a couple days..._ She put a hand to her head as the stream of her thoughts trailed off, a wave of dizziness coming over her. The world spun for a moment, going blurry, before Robin's worried face came into focus in front of her.

"Maybe I should take you right now... you really don't look so good."

_I said I'm fine..._ she thought back to him before disappearing into a dark portal, sipping her tea.

* * *

_The next day _

Of course Raven was still sick, Robin didn't doubt that, but he wasn't very inclined to tell the rest of the team. If they knew, they'd all be clamoring at her door telling her to go to the hospital, and he knew she wouldn't appreciate that. As much as he hated it, Raven could outstubborn even him sometimes. Although this time, that stubbornness was probably not in her best interests.

Regardless, they took care of Plasmus quickly enough and shipped him back to his holding cell where he would be kept in perpetual sleep... at least until Slade had someone go to break him out again. But Raven's absence during the fight had not gone unnoticed and the others had asked him where she was, wondering if he knew. Of course they would ask him - he was the closest to her out of all of them and the one that she would most likely go to first if she was in trouble. And the one who she knew would respect her privacy. He simply told them that she needed time alone, and when Beast Boy complained, Robin merely gave him a stern look before going back to the Tower.

He knew that they wouldn't understand her need to be alone. Although sometimes, he admitted, he had a hard time reading her emotions, even with the bond between them that they had gained after the whole Slade hallucination thing. Like after Malchior had betrayed her, he should have stayed behind to comfort her when it should've been obvious that she needed it. But he hadn't. It was a lucky thing that Beast Boy had been considerate of her feelings that time and been there for her, or she really would have suffered a great deal.

Hell, why was he worrying about her so much? He was supposed to be with _Starfire_, and even if Raven was one of his closest friends, it wasn't like he worried this much about anyone. Not even the alien girl. Maybe it really was the bond they shared. Raven might not have known it, or maybe she did know and didn't care, but just as she had read his mind and seen his darkest secrets - and kept quiet about them, he was grateful for that - he also got snippets of what went on in her mind from time to time.

It was gruesome to say the least. Often, Robin would wake up during the night and catch a vision of horrible things, visions of hell, with creatures of all sorts being tortured, mutilated, disemboweled, a sense of eternal agony and unbearable pain... but more often than not, what was conveyed more strongly through the bond was a deep sense of sadness. He knew that Raven was dreaming or thinking, if she was awake, about what might have happened and what might still happen if Trigon returned. She had told him that her father had often sent her dreams of all the disgusting and terrible torture methods of hell, being forced to eat the flesh of the dead and then having your own organs torn out of your body and fed to yourself... not pleasant... but he had tried to corrupt her by playing mind games with her.

That worried him, but what worried him more was the pangs of depression that also came through from time to time, and it wasn't like her anger which was merely a flash of emotion that was suppressed after a moment. When Raven got depressed, which wasn't very rare at all, it was something that settled about her for days and was something so severe that he thought that she sometimes would commit suicide or something. Robin frowned. And now that he realized it, he had never been there for her.

Well, that was about to change. He could literally feel the pain of whatever she was sick with and decided that the first thing he would do when he got back to the Tower was visit her room. Those dumb police reports could wait a day.

* * *

"Raven?" He knocked on her door and pressed his ear to the metal to listen for any sounds of movement.

_What? _Robin jumped back at the sound of her voice in his head and realized that he had forgotten that she could project her thoughts to other people.

"Can I come in?"

He could sense the conflicting emotions within her briefly before she forced them down. _I guess. The door's open.__  
_

Robin entered the room, which was almost completely dark since Raven had closed her curtains. The door closed behind him and it took a couple moments for his eyes to adjust to the blackness. Blinking a couple times, he walked over to her bed and sat beside her, looking down at her.

Raven was curled up into a little ball with her eyes closed tightly. Sweat ran down her red face and she was very warm to the touch. Fever, he supposed. It took a couple moments, but one violet eye opened as if to check that it was really him.

"You really look terrible, Raven. Are you sure you don't want to see a doctor?"

_Not particularly. _Her eye closed and her ragged breathing eased slightly. _I've been through worse. _

"You've been sick before? I though you said demons were-"

_Resistant, not immune. But it hasn't been this bad before. Feels like I'm dying. _

He held one of her hands in his own and was surprised at how weak her attempt to pull away was. Normally she had a decent amount of physical power, but right now she had no more strength than an infant.

_Robin... _Actually she wasn't trying to pull away...she was squeezing his hand more tightly.

"I'll get you some medicine," he said softly and got up.

_No, Robin... please, stay. _Her voice sounded frightened in his head, although he wasn't sure why she would be scared.

"I'll be back really fast. Don't worry."

Raven nodded almost imperceptibly and her grip on his hand loosened.

* * *

"Robin?" Starfire inquired as he an dug through the medicine cabinet, looking for something that might help his friend. "Might I ask what you are looking for?"

"I don't even know," he grunted in response. Indeed, he didn't, because his stubborn dark bird had refused to go to the doctor so he didn't even know what she was sick with. But he guessed it was a viral infection, so antibiotics obviously would be useless. Maybe he'd give her some cold medicine. Something to sooth the throat and bring her fever down.

"Robin, you seem... angry. Is there something the matter?" Her voice was all concern for him and he sighed. It wasn't _him _she should be concerned about; he wasn't the one who was deathly ill.

"I'm not angry, Star," actually, he was, but it was more of a frustration because Raven had no clue how to take care of herself. She, the empath who was so good at reading other peoples' emotions and helping them with their problems (Cyborg and Sarasim, Robin's problem with Slade, Starfire's problems with her body, and yes, even Beast Boy and his issues with "growing into a man," she was much more sympathetic than she let on)... she was unable to recognize when she herself needed help. She always tried to do everything herself and it frustrated him to no end. The saddest part was that she didn't even expect anyone to care enough to help her.

"Robin..." Starfire said his name softly and put a hand to his forehead. "Perhaps you are sick. Maybe you should 'take the day off' tomorrow and get the rest."

How ironic that statement was. "Star, I don't have time for this right now. Sorry," he said curtly and left.

Starfire looked at his retreating back sadly. Normally if there was something wrong, he wouldn't hesitate to tell her, but then again, there were some things that he kept hidden even from her, some things that he didn't feel comfortable telling anyone about. Only friend Raven had seen into those parts of his head and prying something out of her was like trying to drill through concrete with a toothpick. Starfire sighed. She knew that Robin and Raven were close in a way that she and him could never be and as much as she hated to admit it, she was somewhat jealous of her friend. Of course, she couldn't be selfish in the matter and keep Robin from Raven if they truly loved each other, but their relationship was... complicated.

But if they ever got together, Starfire knew that she would respect that. She wanted them to be happy, after all, and she recognized that they could bring each other happiness... and suffering... in a way that nobody else could.

* * *

"I brought you some tea too," Robin first held a couple pills to Raven's lips and she opened her mouth very slightly. He then held the tea to her. "Careful, it's hot," he murmured.

She swallowed painfully and made a face when the hot water burned her tongue, but she didn't care all that much. It was at least something to take her mind off of the pain wracking her whole body. _Robin? _

"I'm here," he replied. Robin felt her hand move up and touch his face, the cool skin, the edges of his mask... he could sense her distaste when her fingers moved across the fabric... across his sharp brow ridges... "Should I take it off?"

_You'd do that for me? _

Robin shrugged. "You already know what I look like without it." But she sensed that that wasn't the only reason. He wanted to make her feel comfortable. And she was someone very special to him, even though she didn't know why. Just for her, he'd take that mask off. She opened her eyes a sliver and caught sight of the intense azure eyes that reminded her of the Batman, who she had seen unmasked in Robin's mind. They had the same eyes, although she had to admit that Batman's glare was much more intimidating, but there was faded sorrow, a deepset anger, a knowledge that they were outcasts, and a yearning for happiness... so many emotions all at once, all within those eyes.

She murmured her thanks to him and coughed slightly with the effort of moving her throat even a little.

"Shhh," he didn't want her to hurt herself just to thank him. Raven smiled a little and snuggled against his body and he didn't move away. A pleasant surprise for both of them.

Looking down at her, he fancied her to be some sort of cute, tiny animal - he was reminded of the time Mumbo had turned her into a bunny and could not help but laugh a little. Curiously, Raven smiled as well when the memory came up into her mind as well.

_I might not look like it but I do like certain animals. Just not dogs._

"Why not?"

_Too slobbery, messy, loud, and annoying. Like Beast Boy. _

Robin chuckled. "He cares about you though. You know that, right?"

_But he just doesn't get it sometimes. I know he does, but the way he goes about it gets on my nerves. And his jokes are so inconsiderate. _

Robin shrugged. He couldn't disagree with that. Beast Boy got on his nerves sometimes as well. There was silence for a looked up at Robin, who reached over to her tea and held it to her lips. She smiled and took a sip.

_You always know what I want, don't you._

Robin couldn't help but smirk. "And you're awfully talkative today, aren't you?"

_It's weird. I might be sick, but I haven't felt this comfortable in a long time. _Raven closed her eyes and he felt her body shudder as she coughed again. _Just kidding. _

Trust Raven to be sarcastic even when she felt like she was dying. Robin patted her leotard covered back a couple times and her coughs gradually subsided. "You're really tense," he muttered.

_No shit. I can hardly breathe. How do you expect me to be relaxed when my body can't even get enough oxygen? _

He shrugged and massaged her shoulders and upper back, eliciting a very pleased sigh from her. Pushing into the smooth muscle, he wondered why he had never noticed just how... well sexy might not have been the appropriate term, but you get the idea... Raven was. Perhaps it was because of her demon blood, or perhaps it was because she secretly did do physical exercise (and he didn't know about it, but Cyborg did :p ) but her physique was quite attractive. And her angular, smooth face that seemed emotionless at first glance until you looked at her eyes and the slight movements of her mouth, he loved how he could tell what she was thinking if he studied her closely enough. To the unpracticed eye, she was a robot, a block of ice, but he had had years of experience with Batman so he wasn't exactly unpracticed.

Raven smiled weakly at him. _Thanks. But don't think this means you can touch me whenever you like. _

"Of course," he replied. Wouldn't have it any other way.

_Robin, you know... I've always thought that... I've always felt... _Her thoughts trailed off.

"Felt what?"

Raven was silent.

"Raven?"

_I... It's nothing... _her thoughts trailed off again and he could sense something from her. Pain, her body weakening, exhaustion. Something else too, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Hey, are you okay?" He could sense that that something within her was causing her a lot of pain, enough so that she didn't even have enough energy to respond to him by thought anymore.

And then her barriers flew back into place and her emotions were cut off from him. _Sorry, _her voice was very soft inside his mind. _I'm just tired. _

"You worry me," he muttered.

_I know. You worry so much that you're even making me worry. _

He rolled his eyes. "If you have the energy to crack jokes at me maybe you really should direct it at worrying about yourself. You won't get better if you disregard your own body."

Raven's breathing gradually slowed and grew more even. _Actually I don't feel very energetic right now. Might just... go to... sleep... _She yawned and stretched, back arching, before curling up beside him again. Robin watched her slow breathing for a few minutes before laying down beside her and staring at the ceiling.

He knew that when she got better, Raven would be all ice queen mode toward everyone again, including him, so he wanted to enjoy the closeness he had with her while it still lasted. It really was a wonderful feeling. She actually felt comfortable around him, even if she pretended otherwise. He supposed he was lucky like that. Although he still wondered what she was going to say that she had ended up suppressing. What had she thought? What had she felt?

Did she... love him?

There was no way in hell she loved anyone. At least, that was what Robin thought. But sometimes, he could be just as oblivious as she was in these matters. Funny, considering she was an empath, but she couldn't tell... deep down, he thought of her as something more than just a close friend. But they were both oblivious to each other's feelings in that respect.

It was perhaps why, when Robin left her room a couple hours later, he felt a bit happier, but still unfulfilled.

* * *

_Three days later_

Well, Raven had been right. She didn't need to go to the hospital after all. A couple days for her immune system to work and whatever it was she had contracted had gone away. At first, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Starfire had all bugged her incessantly about where she had been for the last few days, but a growl and four eyes shut them up immediately. It was weird, they thought, that Raven seemed both happier and more irritable than usual - Cyborg caught her softly humming a cheerful tune to herself while working on her roundhouse kicks one day, but when he had smirked at her and pointed it out she had kicked the punching bag clear off of the ceiling and proceeded to beat the crap out of it in a fit of rage. And then she had glared at him and _almost _beaten him during their sparring but he was still better.

Or Beast Boy found her smiling an awful lot while she was reading... something... but when she realized that he was staring at her, she had gone all four eyed demon and chased him around the Tower for a good ten minutes before going back to her sullen... happiness? Something was weird.

And she had even accepted Starfire's offer to go to the mall... and even go to the spa and get a manicure _and _get her hair done. And complained about it all the way through.

And then when Robin had caught her alone, meditating on the roof as the sun was beginning to set, he had seen a glimpse of a peaceful smile on her face that quickly shifted to irritation when he stood behind her for more than a minute. Deep down, she was frustrated for the same reason he was. They thought of each other in a way only people who had an - intimate - relationship should have... they were closer than just friends were, closer to each other than even to any of the other Titans, but yet there was still something that was stopping them on both ends. They were both frustrated because... well, honestly, Raven told herself, because they were not together. And she knew that they probably would never be. And it irritated her to no end.

And then when she caught the same look on Robin's face as he stared at her, she finally knew that he felt the same way. Her frown quickly shifted to a knowing smile and she turned away, suppressing her emotions once more and fading into oblivious peace. And behind her, Robin did the same.

* * *

A/N: Great, now I feel unfulfilled too. What a horrible way to end this chapter - the plot was practically begging me to throw them together as a couple, but I didn't.

But. Don't worry! Eventually in one of my stories or oneshots they may yet be together! - Hint hint, keep your eyes open :)

So yeah. Next up will be Cyborg and Starfire (another toughie to write but we'll see how it turns out)


	7. Cyborg and Starfire

Disclaimer: Teen Titans not mine blah blah

This chapter will be kinda short since I really have no clue what to write for it. It seems to me that Cyborg and Starfire wouldn't clash a lot and they do care for each other as friends, so I had to find something in common for them to do. And that would be... well, you'll see.

* * *

**Cyborg and Starfire... or**

**Iron Chef America/Tameran **

It was a strange idea, but they had to admit it sounded like fun. Cyborg, the star cook of the Titans, against the challenger, Starfire, the weirdo alien girl with even weirder food and-

Starfire glared at Beast Boy, who grinned sheepishly. "I am not the... challenger of which you speak! I am a worthy foe for the Chef Cyborg and his Earthly dishes of Earthliness!"

"Right. Girl, you're goin' down. Chef Cyborg ain't never lost to anyone but his own grandma."

"We shall see about that!"

"Right right, settle down," Robin walked up to the kitchen counter and put his hand on the timer. "You guys ready?"

"Of course!"

"Alright then... 3...2...1... Start!"

Both of them rushed to their separate sides of the kitchen and quickly began taking out their ingredients; on Cyborg's side, there was some sort of goopy meat - ugh - sauce and noodles cooking in a pan, obviously starting the disgusting meat pasta as his

"Beast Boy! Enough commentary! If you're going to pretend to be the show host, at least don't be biased!"

"Right, sorry Robin."

And on the side of Starfire! Some... what are those?

"Tameranian Flurgaleeches preserved in the blood of-"

Okay, just go back to your cooking. And back to Cyborg! Oh what is this? A vegetable dish?

"Don't get too excited," Cyborg smirked at Beast Boy and began dousing the vegetables in a beef stew. Beast Boy face palmed.

Right, ignoring the side of Cyborg, we are going back to Starfire and _what is that?! _

Starfire was busy struggling with what seemed to be a huge, _living, _octopus, only it had 19 legs instead of 8. Some of the tentacles wrapped around her arms and pulled her in but she fought back and tore a couple of them loose. The tentacles then snaked around her ankles and pulled her down, but she fought back with a fury and eventually subdued the thing.

"Do not fear, friend Beast Boy!" She plunged a knife into what seemed to be the head of the creature. "This is a plant from my home world called-"

"That's a plant?!"

"Why, yes, friend Beast Boy. I thought that you would be in need of 'the vegetarian dish' so I prepared this especially for you." She gave him a huge smile and went back to chopping up what was apparently a plant.

Okay then, back to Cyborg, who has now finished his beef stew and meat pasta and begun on... more meat.

"I shaped it like tofu at least!"

"That doesn't _make _it tofu! It's still meat!"

"Yeah, whatever."

Back to Starfire! And oh my goodness.

Starfire was throwing starbolts at a plate of giant insects, which he didn't even bother to ask what they were, since they still seemed to be alive. Or maybe they had just died, considering they were twitching.

"Star, just because you can't cook doesn't mean you need to get angry-"

"I am not bad at the cooking! This dish requires rapid heat to be applied so the outside gets the cooked faster and the inside remains runny."

"Right..."

And _oh my god! _Cy's using tofu! Oh. My. God.

Robin, Raven, and Beast Boy stared in shock as Cyborg nonchalantly began dumping some tofu into a pot filled with boiling water.

There's only one explanation for this. This Cyborg's a fake! He must've chickened out at the last minute and got a replacement! Quick! We've gotta find the real one!

"BB, calm down. You can't make a miso soup without tofu, much as I hate to admit it," he muttered.

"Who the fuck likes miso soup? Whatis miso soup?"

Cyborg facepalmed. "Why are you being a commentator if you don't even know anything about food? And for the record, Raven likes Japanese food."

Beast Boy looked back suspicious at the violet haired girl, who smirked at him. That was her version of yes. Beast Boy shrugged and turned back to Starfire's side of the kitchen.

And Ladies and Gentlemen, looks like Starfire has begun to prepare a dessert for her fourth dish, just your standard Earthly cake with frosting and ice cream and

"Topped with the frozen glurtlemanders of my home world... oh friends, do not fear! They really are quite delicious! But you must be careful, if you suck on them for too long they will wake up-"

"Wonderful." "Star, maybe that's a little..."

Back to Cyborg's side! With four dishes done from each cook, we move on to the fifth and final one with ten minutes remaining!

Oh, it looks like our robot friend has copied the alien girl and decided to make a cake as well!

"I didn't copy her, this isn't cake. It's a giant _brownie,_" he grumbled at Beast Boy, who obviously had no clue how to cook or tell different desserts apart either. "And I had to rebake it to get the chocolate chips melted in and to keep them moist."_  
_

"Finally, something I can eat!"

"You can eat the miso soup too. There's no meat in it."

"Don't even know what that stuff is, but if it's got tofu I'll eat it!"

Everyone rolled their eyes at their green friend.

And for Starfire's last dish we have... something normal?

The girl was cutting what seemed to be a freshly baked loaf of bread into a heart shape and stuffing the center with pudding. She finished inscribing a couple of initials - R 3 S 4ever - in the center and placed it next to all of her other finished dishes.

"For Robin," she smiled sweetly at him and he blushed.

"I'm done too," Cyborg placed his brownie cake thing down on the counter as well just as the timer rang. "High five, sista'!" He held his hand up to Starfire, who looked at him, puzzled.

"What is 'the high five?' Do you not mean the HIVE five-"

"Me and BB do it all the time. Haven't you seen us say high five and then... high five each other?"

"Oh, you mean the thing you do after you kick the butt of the HIVE five," she smiled and high fived him. "This was so much fun, friend Cyborg! We should do the battle of cooking again some time!"

"Say that after I beat you," he smirked.

Starfire smirked back. "We will see about that."

* * *

There were 'mmms' from both Robin and Raven as they sampled Cyborg's triple meat sauce pasta, then his beef vegetable stew, but when they got to the tofu meat, they both paused momentarily. And then exchanging a glance, they both ate it tentatively.

Raven grimaced and spat it out, but Robin seemed to love it and decided to steal the remainder of her piece as well.

The half demon girl grumbled something about minus points and Cyborg looked at her sheepishly. He knew that she didn't care much for cartilage based foods, but he should've at least warned her first. Oh well.

And then came the miso soup, which Raven did enjoy a lot, mumbling about giving him his points back. Beast Boy ate it as well, and obviously he liked it because dude, it had tofu in it.

And finally the brownie cake thing, which they all agreed was beyond delicious.

"Overall, not bad," Raven gave him a small smile. For her, that meant that it had been terrific.

"Awesome!" Robin complimented his friend.

"Err... sure. But all the meat..." Beast Boy shuddered. "I dunno, Cy."

"Yeah, well your opinion don't matter anyway."

"Hey!"

"Just kidding," he laughed and punched his friend on the shoulder. "I'll make you something special tomorrow to make up for this."

"Are you trying to give the judge 'the bribe'?" Starfire looked at him suspiciously. "You are not trying to do the cheating, friend, are you?"

"N-no," he held his hands up. "I'd never do such a thing-"

Starfire hmphed at him but then smiled devilishly. "It matters not. Once they taste the wonders of my cooking there will be no hope for you to defeat me in this battle."

"O-okay then."

He backed away, not wanting to butt heads with Starfire's competitive side, and let her present her dishes.

It was... not a pretty sight at first. All three of them were reluctant to try the strange assortment of ... stuff... that she put out before them, but at last Robin mustered his courage and ate. And then Raven followed suit, and if there was no meat, he was assured of this, Beast Boy tried it as well.

And lo and behold, their grimaces suddenly turned into grins of delight.

"Wonderful!" Robin complimented her.

"Not bad," another stamp of approval from the usually critical Raven.

"Better than Cy's vegetarian dishes... '_cause he had none!_" Cyborg laughed nervously at that statement.

Starfire smiled at him. "Would you like to try some as well? It will show you that I can do the cooking just as well as you."

Cyborg shrugged. Unlike his biased friends, he would eat anything.

Starfire giggled in glee when he, too, seemed shocked at how good the stuff tasted despite its... questionable appearance...

* * *

_The verdict _

of the Iron Chef Tameran/America/whatever it's called will now be presented to the two chefs, the _amazingly _good meat cooker Cyborg,

"Hey! Sarcasm's supposed to be Raven's thing!"

And the much better than we thought she would be Starfire,

"Hmph!"

"Just get on with it!" Raven and Robin shouted at Beast Boy in unison.

"Okay okay!" He opened the envelope with their scores in them and did a quick bit of mental math. "And the winner is..."

Both Cyborg and Starfire looked at him expectantly.

"It is..."

They leaned in closer, impatiently.

"Is..."

"Just say it!" All four of them shouted at him.

"Geez, you guys have never heard of suspense, have you-"

"Stop stalling!"

"Right. The winner is Starfire!"

Cyborg's eyes practically bugged out and Starfire jumped in glee.

"Oh friend!" She wrapped him in a metal arm/leg body part breaking hug. "That was a wonderful battle! I do hope that we can do this again some time!"

"I... lost?" He looked at Robin, Raven, and Beast Boy one after the other.

Robin shrugged. "She's my girlfriend. Had to do it."

Raven didn't say anything, not that he expected her to.

"You didn't think you could bribe me with tofu, did you?"

Cyborg face palmed. "Alright, looks like Star's gonna be the cook of the house from now on. I give up."

"Wait - just kidding! Cyborg won!" Beast Boy quickly changed the decision - despite having tried Starfire's admittedly not so bad Tameranian food, he still had reservations about it.

"Aha! So you did do the bribing of friend Beast Boy!" Starfire turned back aggressively toward Cyborg, who backed away.

"No, I swear, I had nothing to do with this, argh!"

They began tussling around the common room and the other three Titans scuttle away, not wanting to get involved. Alien girls could be scary at times.

"But you are good at the cooking," Starfire paused as she pinned him to the ground. "It is always very pleasing to eat the Earthly food that you make."

"Thanks. You're not so bad yourself," he replied.

"But you still cheated, and for that you must be punished!"

"No!"

* * *

A/N: Eh, this one wasn't so great, but gimme a break, Cyborg Starfire is kinda hard D:

Anyway, next one will be a high quality one that I'll actually spend time on... though I may not like the pairing particularly, I have some decent ideas planned and I do have to do the relationship justice.

Next up, Beast Boy and Raven


	8. Beast Boy and Raven Part I

Disclaimer: Teen Titans not mine.

Okay, so I have said it before, but I will mention it again, BB/Rae isn't exactly one of the "romance" pairings that I personally feel is very viable. However, that being said, it's not because I dislike either character (Raven's my favorite, Beast Boy's my fourth after Slade and Jinx). I just felt like the personalities from the show wouldn't fit too well... that being said, a little tweaks here and there, and I'll make this work (so excuse me

Anyway, enough rambling. This will be difficult, but not like the other odd pairings. It'll take some time to develop, so instead of a oneshot, this will be a threeshot BB/Rae that yes, will eventually turn out to be somewhat of a romance. So, sit tight, and here's part I!

* * *

**Beast Boy and Raven Part I**

She was always alone, it seemed. Reading her books, meditating, in the darkness of her room. Even when she was with them, she seemed to be alone, withdrawn into her hood. Like she was scared of them or something.

But she wasn't quite as alone as she thought. Yes, he had to admit that she seemed creepy at first. Lately, however, he had begun to take an interest in his mysterious friend simply by virtue of her elusiveness and stoic demeanor. Of course, since he hid his true self from most other people, he could sort of understand what she had to deal with.

It was a matter of observation. Sure, she said that her powers were fueled by emotion and as such, if she let her emotions get out of control, she would end up blowing things up and killing people. But he didn't believe her one bit when she said that she had to suppress her feelings to the degree that she did. Nobody, not even Raven, could become a complete robot.

Okay, maybe she wasn't trying to be a robot. She definitely had a temper. And she was one of those people that you _never _wanted to piss off too much. Everyone knew that Raven was strong, definitely the strongest person on the team and on par with most of those Justice League people at the very least. She just had to control that power so she didn't accidentally kill people, just like Superman did. But when she got angry and those restraints were gone, that could spell out bad things for whoever had incensed her.

Why was he even thinking about these things? It wasn't like he didn't already know that.

Ah yes, now he remembered. She had seemed so stressed and frustrated lately for whatever the reason, maybe because she was having problems controlling her demon, or maybe because of depression, or maybe because she was alone all the time. Sure, he understood that she was a loner by nature, but very few people could be alone forever and still stay sane. Underneath that icy exterior, he thought, there was something waiting for someone to give her attention, to show her... well, there was no better word for it, love.

Actually, now that he thought about it, he hadn't really gone about it the right way in the past. All those pranks, the taunting, the jokes, that _really _had not been the right way to get Raven's attention, even if he was just trying to make her feel like part of the Titan family. Instead, he had just come across as immature and insensitive, oblivious to her feelings which he definitely was not.

So anyway, that was his excuse for stalking her and watching as she meditated or read her books. (In actuality, he just liked looking at her, but he wouldn't admit that to her... or himself either. There had to be a reason to be watching her so closely.) And when he observed her carefully, he found something absolutely amazing.

Raven was not a robot after all.

Well, he had known that, but...

Okay, so maybe her facial expressions usually seemed to be either those of irritation, fury, frustration, or occasionally happiness, but very rarely so. Usually. But that was because he hadn't been paying enough attention. It was all in the eyes.

He loved the way her eyes gave away almost everything she was feeling, lighting up when she read something funny in her book, or tasted some of Cyborg's delicious cooking, or when she was feeling happier, or dulling, if she was depressed or even if she read something a little sad. And then the little hints of mirth when her eyes laughed at his ... admittedly stupid ... jokes, worry when one of them got hurt while fighting, and little glances of curiosity at him from time to time.

Put bluntly, her face, or eyes at least, were a lot more emotional than he had ever imagined they would be.

And that was why he knew, when she caught him staring at her one too many times, that she actually was not angry with him. Although the words that came out of her mouth suggested otherwise.

"Why are you staring at me?" She growled at him.

"I - er - I wasn't-"

"Yes you were."

Beast Boy rubbed the back of his head and laughed sheepishly. "Sorry. I-I didn't think you'd notice." Actually, that was false. Everyone knew that Raven noticed pretty much everything.

The violet haired girl glared at him, but then closed her eyes and sighed.

"Why are you so interested in me anyway? You used to hate me."

"H-how did you know?"

"I'm a telepath," she grumbled at him. "Answer the question."

"I thought you said that was like, uh, an invasion of privacy or somethin'."

Raven rubbed her temples. "It's hard to ignore it when curiosity is practically oozing out of you. Stop dodging around the question."

"Right, sorry. I, uh... um..." he wasn't actually going to admit to her why he was so interested because, well, he didn't really know the answer to that himself. All he knew was that something about her was captivating, almost alluring. So, he gave her a different answer.

"I never hated you."

Raven frowned deeply and turned away from him. "Well, if you're not going to answer the question then go away. Your staring is interrupting my meditation."

"O-okay."

* * *

Well, that hadn't gone the way he had imagined it would. Their first real conversation since he had taken up this interest in her, and it had been an awkward one, to say the least. Although she did talk to him, so he supposed it wasn't a complete disaster.

Actually, he wasn't sure how he felt about her. They had been friends for quite a long time now, for almost four years - five since they had formed the Teen Titans (she had taken a year to just get used to him). They had been through a lot together, beating Trigon, the Brotherhood of Evil... yes, there was definitely a bond between them. He just wasn't sure how strong that bond was, or if it extended past "just friendship."

Out of all the Titans, he definitely appeared to be the one that was at odds with her personality the most. She was dark, brooding, moody, he was immature (at times), happy-go-lucky, jovial, cheery. That was why they had butted heads so many times and why she - they - had taken so long to really become friends. Once they had gotten to know each other, however, they had begun to see past each others' fake exteriors.

Raven knew that Beast Boy was very sensitive to what others felt and could be thoughtful, mature, and extremely serious at times. The only reason he acted the way he did most of the time was as comic relief, to keep the others and himself happy so that he wouldn't fall victim to his own insecurities.

And Beast Boy knew that Raven, of course since she was an empath, knew exactly what everyone else felt and thought. She cared quite a lot, and the only reason she acted like she didn't was to protect other people from getting to close to her. She was very insecure as well, her demon heritage a constant threat to all of her friends and the entire world. He understood fully why she felt like she had to act so emotionless and why she was so grumpy most of the time.

Well, superficially grumpy. After he had had that rather uncomfortable chat with her, he had tried very hard to avoid her the next day so that she wouldn't overreact to his interest in her. He did respect her privacy and personal space, even though he was also the one who invaded those things the most. But there was something drawing him to her that simply could not be stopped. It burned in his heart like a scorching flame, one that was only quenched whenever he happened to look at her. So after a day of letting her have her space, he began again.

* * *

Not one to engage in conversation much, Raven was not going to be deciphered through words. So he observed again.

He caught her smirking a little when he engaged in his ritual morning argument with Cyborg over meat and tofu, and when she noticed him looking, her little smile was gone instantly, replaced by an intense frown.

And then when they were eating, his eyes shifted up from his own plate and onto Raven's face. The gesture was not missed and they made brief eye contact before he looked down. He could feel the irritation radiating off from her.

He and Cyborg were supposed to be intently playing a game, but he was too distracted by the sight of Raven meditating, floating in mid air in front of the window, where sunlight streamed, highlighting all the smooth muscles and curves of her body. She could practically feel the eyes boring into her back and gritted her teeth, trying to ignore him. Why the hell was he so interested in her anyway? He had to know that the feeling was not mutual...

After a few minutes, she felt like she couldn't take it any more and teleported up to the roof, away from his prying eyes. Honestly she was a little bit frightened of Beast Boy. It did occur to her that he was noticing a lot more about her than he should have been, and though she knew he could be very insightful when he wanted to be, it still did not make her any less uncomfortable. Didn't he understand that she didn't want to... that she _couldn't_... get close to anyone? Wasn't it enough that they were friends?

He had followed her up to the roof. Apparently they had to be something more than friends.

"Beast Boy," she muttered. An unspoken question lingered in the air for a moment.

"I followed you - I'm following you - because... because..."

"It doesn't matter why. Just stop," she growled at him. "Go away."

"But-"

"Leave."

"But... aren't we friends, Rae?"

"Yes. Do you see Robin or Cyborg stalking me around all the time? They're my friends too."

Beast Boy stood firm. "C'mon Rae-"

"Raven."

"Okay, Raven. Can't you just open up a little? I mean, the only reason I've been following you around is because I care about you. It's not like I'm trying to piss you off or be a stalker or anything like that."

"Well you're doing a good job of irritating me. So leave."

He didn't budge. "I don't understand why you have to be miss ice queen all the time! Why can't you just be normal, like the rest of us?! I'm only trying to be nice to you..."

Raven turned toward him, eyes blazing. "I think you know the answer to that question. I'm _different _from the rest of you. Go away."_  
_

Beast Boy closed his eyes and turned away. "Fine." And he left.

* * *

"Argh!" Beast Boy screamed and threw a pillow against the wall of his room. "Why does she have to be so frustrating all the time?!"

He punched the wall, leaving a small dent, and then sat back on his bed. Breathing deeply in and out, he tried to calm himself down. He knew that it was just an act, that she didn't actually hate him, but it didn't stop him from being angry at her.

And then he sighed. Despite his irritation, that feeling inside him hadn't gone away. In fact, her elusiveness only drew him to her more. There was something very attractive about the 'mystery girl' aura she had set up for herself, even if she did act like a bitch most of the time. The question was, how was he going to get her to open up to him?

Actually, he didn't even need her to open up to him. He just wanted her to feel comfortable around him, even if she didn't want to talk about herself. He had this idea that maybe, one day, they could sit together on the beach where she would either be reading her book or staring out at sea, and he would be sitting right next to her. They wouldn't talk, but she would look at him and smile a little, and he know that in that moment, she was happy.

But that probably was only a fantasy. Right now, she couldn't even stand to be in the same room with him if it was just the two of them. Beast Boy lay back on his bed and looked at the ceiling. Everything was silent, except for the sound of his clock ticking away.

"Ugh, this is going to drive me insane," he muttered to himself. He got up and decided to go apologize to her - he would show her that he could be just as mature as she was. He left his own room and headed down the hall to hers, hoping she would at least listen to him.

* * *

"What?" Her voice was back to its normal monotone - at least she didn't seem to be angry with him any more.

"Look, Raven, I just wanted to say sorry for the way I've been acting. I didn't mean to call you weird or make you feel unwelcome. I was just frustrated because-"

"I know," she grumbled back at him, and then sighed, pulling back her hood. "Beast Boy. I know why you've been stalking me around."

"Well, good, 'cause I don't."

She blinked a couple times, surprised. "You're interested in me, but you don't even know why?"

"Err, yeah... I know, I know, it seems kinda weird, but-"

"You might want to sort out your own feelings before you keep pursuing me," she sounded rather amused.

"Wait, what's that supposed to mean? Why are you laughing at me?"

The laughter in her eyes instantly died away. "I'm not laughing at you."

"Liar. You totally were just thinking I'm an idiot, weren't you?"

Raven smirked and closed the door to her room.

"Hey!" She heard his voice on the other side of the door. "Raven! I wasn't done talking- oh, never mind. I'll leave you alone." And after a moment, she sensed his presence disappear.

She smiled to herself and tried to go back to reading her book. And then she set it down, too distracted to focus on the tiny words covering the page.

"When did he learn to be considerate?" She muttered to herself, pleasantly surprised at how receptive he had been to the inflections in her voice and the slight shifts in her eyes that indicated amusement. He was more perceptive than she had given him credit for and despite his annoying ways of showing affection... he did care for her. A lot. And in a way different from how the other Titans cared about her. To them, she was just a friend. To him...

Well, he just had to realize what his own feelings for her were. Perhaps when he did, well, then they would see.

Raven thought it was pretty interesting that _he,_ of all people, would think of her this way, but then again, he wasn't exactly who he seemed to be either. The happy go lucky, always cheerful demeanor, that wasn't who he really was. She had to admit that he had piqued her interest.

_Of course, _she thought with a frown, _I can't get too close to him either. I... I just can't get too close to anyone, or I'll end up hurting them. I'll put them in danger. They don't deserve to be with someone like me. They deserve someone better. _

Raven's hands trembled as she balled them into fists. Of course, she would never admit her own feelings to anyone else, but... the worst part was, he seemed to understand how she felt without her even having to tell him. She hated that, and adored that at the same time. There was a part of her begging to be alone, reclusive, yes, but there was also that part of her that yearned for just one other person to be there for her when she really needed it, someone who could simply sit there in silence with her, look at her face, her eyes, and understand. And then she would feel better, knowing that she wasn't really alone.

But she was afraid that she would end up hurting that person, and that whoever it might be, he would hate her forever after she would put him in danger with her demon side. The thought of that was unbearable.

_No. Stop. _She forced the thoughts out of her mind and the low sound of her voice broke the silence in the room.

"Azarath metrion zinthos..." Her emotions faded away and there was peace in her mind again. "Azarath metrion zinthos..."

Why did his mere presence bring forth so many emotions in her anyway? Just by looking at her, being anywhere near her would drive her inner balance into turmoil. And not just Rage, but all the other emotions that she didn't really want to name, they all seemed to go crazy.

"Ugh," she muttered to herself. Sometimes her meditating just didn't work. She was just simply too distracted by, well, she knew exactly what she was distracted by, but that didn't change the fact that she couldn't take her mind off of... it.

Rubbing her temples, she stood up and left her room to go make a cup of tea.

* * *

And of course, he was the only one there _again. _Why did the universe hate her? It just _had_ to put her in all sorts of awkward situations when her emotional state was unbalanced.

He noticed her glide into the Tower's common room as the doors opened and opened his mouth to talk to her, but looking at the very nearly murderous expression on her face (or maybe something else... she didn't seem irritated at him, for once), he decided that talking was not a good idea. He forced down a grin when he saw her surprise - she had thought he was going to annoy her, talk to her, do something to her, but instead he had read her feelings again and had left her alone.

She glided past him and he turned away, back to frying his tofu bacon, the edges of his mouth curving upward very slightly. And when he turned back at the smell of fragrant herbal tea, he caught the briefest moment of a smile, a _real _smile, not just one of her smirks, on Raven's face. It was only there for a second before her face returned to its normal apathetic expression, but then he looked more closely and saw that the smile had never left her eyes.

She didn't hate him after all.

* * *

A/N: It was actually pretty fun writing this chapter.

Anyway, a couple notes:

Remember, this is only Part I of a three shot, so don't think it will be as unfulfilling as the Robin/Raven chapter! I will follow this one through.

Also, both Beast Boy and Raven may seem slightly out of character, but as I stated previously, I had to do it to make the pairing work better (at least in my mind), so hopefully it doesn't upset anyone.

I sort of hope that this chapter will get me more reviews/comments, since it's a popular pairing, (and I tend to be an author who doesn't get many views or stuffs because I don't write about very common subjects and my writing can be difficult to understand sometimes) but whatever. But just sayin', I'm not going to get any better at writing if all you readers keep silent - as a young writer, I really hope that people will not just praise, but also critique my writing so that I can actually improve.

Of course, don't just flame me either, try to say something meaningful if you're going to criticize.

Okay, rant over. Next up will be Cyborg and Robin, and following that will be Part II of BB/Rae.


	9. Cyborg and Robin

Disclaimer: Teen Titans not mine

A very short oneshot since I didn't really have the patience (or time) to make a very intricate one. Maybe I'll replace this one later with a better one, but for now here's just a simple Cyborg/Robin. Oh, and this is another one that can be classified as a crack fic - it's really weird so yeah...

"Speech"

_Thoughts _

* * *

**Cyborg and Robin**

Told from Beast Boy's pov

_Everyone's acting strange today... _Beast Boy wandered the halls of Titan's Tower, looking for any sign of his friends. _Ever since we took down Mumbo this morning, they've all been super happy, like really weirdly super happy. Or maybe giddy. Except for Raven, she disappeared immediately after we got 'im. And now everyone else is missing too. Wonder where they are... _

Beast Boy shrugged and knocked on the door to Raven's room, bracing himself for the violet haired girl's wrath that was sure to come if she was there. It was never a pleasant experience disturbing Raven and he had a feeling that she might be more agitated than usual, with everyone else being so hyper and all that. Like, even Robin seemed to be bouncing off the walls like Starfire normally was. That just wasn't right.

After a few more minutes of waiting, he decided that Raven was either ignoring him or not in, so he continued on his way. It was eerily silent in the Tower considering it was the middle of the day and it freaked him out just a little bit.

"Hello?" Beast Boy said nervously as he looked about. "Anyone home? Guys?"

Obviously there was no reply. Life was never easy.

Beast Boy tentatively approached the door to the common room, listening carefully for any sounds - not that it would be easy, the door was supposed to block out all noise - but he heard nothing. The green Titan scratched his chin. _Well, what do I do now? I bet Cy's planning some sort of prank and it's gonna get me the instant I step through that door. Maybe Robin's in it with him! _Paranoid much? Eh, whatever. Beast Boy transformed into a dog and pressed an ear to the door, listening intently. And finally he heard a couple of voices beyond it that sounded very much like Cyborg and Robin talking.

"I can't believe you let this happen! You're getting out of control, man. You can't just go off chasing the bad guy when your teammates are in danger. Friends first, villains second!"

"So I should just let him waltz out of there next time? She was fine-"

"Does she look fine to you?" Cyborg's voice suddenly dropped in volume and Beast Boy could barely hear it.

_Who's he talking about? Did something happen to Raven? _The green Titan suddenly felt very scared. Though he and Raven had their differences, he didn't want anything bad to happen to her. She was one of his best friends, and even if it didn't seem like it, she understood him the best out of all of the Titans.

"Well, uh..."

_Oh no. _Beast Boy got an image of Cyborg with a grim face on, shaking his head at Robin. He could practically feel the disappointment radiating through the doorway.

"Sure, we got Mumbo. Great. But now Raven's-"

"Actually, I think she's fine like this."

"Dude, what the hell-"

"Just look at her. She looks fine. Better than normal actually."

"Robin, your sense of humor is screwed up."

"I guess so," but Beast Boy got the sensation that Robin was smirking rather than admitting that he was messed up. Although, Cyborg still seemed as serious as ever.

"You don't sound like you mean it."

"But Cy, it was just _Mumbo, _she shouldn't have been in any danger-"

Beast Boy heard a loud bang, possibly Cyborg slamming his hand on the table. _"Shouldn't have been?! _Dude, look at her. Just... I don't even know what to say to you. I guess this is some sick way for you to cope with what's happened to Raven."

"It's not a coping mechanism..."

"Sure seems like it to me. When one of your friends gets hurt, you don't just laugh it off as something insignificant."

Oh god. How badly injured was she? Beast Boy didn't figure Mumbo to be the type to really seriously maim someone or even kill them, but villains were villains and they were all dangerous. Maybe he had caught Raven unaware or something, but... _I swear, depending on how badly he's hurt her, I'm going to march into that prison and- _

"Cy, it's not a big deal. We'll figure out a way to fix her."

_Fix her? Raven's not just some toy... I guess Robin really has gone loony. _

"Well, 'fixing her' isn't my specialty. We'll have to look for someone else."

_Wait. Why is Cy talking about fixing her too? _

"Then we'll just have to leave her like this for now. Besides, she looks cute this way anyway."

_What. _

"Actually, I have to agree with you on that one. But we still have to figure out a way to fix this mess. Raven, got any ideas?"

"She can't talk."

"Right. Forgot about that. Hey! Ow!" There were sounds of jumping around and a loud crash moments later. "She just bit me!"

_Wait, what? Raven's conscious? And biting him? What's going on? I thought she was hurt or something... _

"Well you deserved it."

"You deserve it more. She should be biting you, not me."

"She wouldn't do that- Ow!"

"See? She might look different, but she's still Raven. Nobody escapes her wrath."

"Yeah, whatever. Anyway, you go contact some of these people. Maybe they can help us. I'll look through some of the stuff she has on transforming magic."

"Hey, hold on. How come you get the easy job? _I'll _look through the books, _you _go deal with them."

"Easy job? I gave you the easier task. Who wants to read through a whole bunch of books anyway? Errr no offense, Raven."

"Better than dealing with a whole bunch of weirdo magicians," Cyborg muttered in response.

"Well you're going to listen to me and do your duty. If we want to help Raven we're going to have to each do what we're told to do."

"Yeah? And why do you get to call the shots Mr. self proclaimed leader of the team? I don't have to listen to you."

"Someone has to be in charge and let's face it, I'm best suited to lead this team. So you _will _do what I say."

"Make me."

There was an awkward silence.

"I can't make you do anything. But if you don't want to listen fine, then you might as well just leave. Get out."

Beast Boy's eyes widened as he listened to their conversation and he jumped through the doorway, rushing to prevent them from arguing any more. But when he entered the room, he was met with a very strange sight. A wide eyed bunny in a blue cloak was staring up at the two Titans yelling over her, ears and whiskers wilted as if she were slightly perturbed. Her mouth moved frantically as if she were trying to talk to them, but no sound came out except for an occasional very bunny-like squeak. Cyborg and Robin looked up as he entered, obviously surprised that he was there.

"Uh, hi guys," he said awkwardly.

They continued to stare at him.

"Guys?"

"Stay out of it," they both muttered at him and shoved him away.

He looked at them suspiciously. "You know, I'm surprised you two fight so much since you're so much like each other. Neither of you can ever admit you're wrong. You always have to have things done your way."

"We're nothing like each other!" They spoke in unison.

"Right. So... instead of fighting, how about we all work together and help Raven-"

"Not a chance," they spoke in unison again.

"Really guys? You're gonna put your own personal fight over Raven's safety?"

"Well..." Obviously, their response had been given in the heat of the moment, and now that they thought about it, it was probably right of them to help Raven rather than squabble with each other.

Bunny Raven shot them a glare - how dare they think of fighting each other when she obviously needed them! - and waited patiently as Robin and Cyborg began looking for things that might help her, while Beast Boy made her a cup of tea.

* * *

_A few hours later... _

"Robin!" Cyborg yelled as he ran into the room, where Raven and Beast Boy were playing a card game... or trying to, since Raven didn't exactly have hands... and Robin was pouring over one of Raven's books.

"You found something?"

"Well, not exactly, but Zatanna said that this _might _work. You know that mirror Raven has?"

Robin nodded. "This book's been talking about the same thing. Apparently Mumbo made part of her subconscious think she's a rabbit, and her powers made it reality. So to fix it, we just have to go into her head through her mirror and-"

Bunny Raven shook her head. She would never let them into her mind willingly, let alone mess with it while they were there.

"Raven, it's the only way-"

Raven disappeared into a dark portal and went up to her room; evidently, she had not lost her powers even if she was transformed into a rabbit.

Cyborg and Robin merely looked at each other and shrugged before sitting down at the table and continuing the card game with Beast Boy. Moments later, Raven reappeared through the ceiling, back to her normal self. She glared at Cyborg, then Robin, before sitting down at the table and picking up her cards and glaring at them too.

"Good to have you back, Raven."

She growled at Robin. "You two can go back to fighting now."

The masked Titan looked at his robotic friend. "You know," he said slowly. "I think if we stop butting heads all the time, we can actually get stuff done. Like we did here."

"I didn't need your help," she muttered, blushing faintly.

"Yeah, you obviously just liked being a bunny better than being demon-human whatever you are."

Raven growled at Cyborg as well and took a sip of hot tea, before nearly spitting it out. Her terrifying gaze turned onto Beast Boy. "You put too many tea leaves in," she hissed at him. (If you do this, the tea gets really bitter and becomes not pleasant at all - good way to stay awake if you need to though)

Cyborg and Robin merely smirked at her while Beast Boy cowered in fear of Raven's wrath. In truth, they fought with each other a lot, mostly on issues of who decided what was to get done with regard to the team, _because _they were so similar. Both natural born leaders, both somewhat similar in personality, deeply caring about their teammates... well, it was why they antagonized each other sometimes, but it was also why they were the best of friends.

* * *

A/N: Okay, not a very good one, but it's something I whipped up quickly because I'm just excited that most of my tests are over...

Last test will be done in a couple days and then I'll be releasing the next chapter, which will be BB/Rae Part II


	10. Beast Boy and Raven Part II

Disclaimer: TT not mine.

Okay, not sure how many people actually read my stuff, but for those people who actually do read this story, and those who like the BB/Rae pairing, this chapter should make them pretty happy. I actually went out of my way to write a non gloomy romance, which is something I'd ordinarily never do, but I figured I'd see if my feedback would increase if I did it. ('Cause I actually get quite a few views on this story, but nobody bothers to review, so I don't know if people don't like my writing, if it's bad, good, expected, or what.)

So, as I have said before, if you do find something that you dislike about my writing/story, tell me what I can do better.

"Speech"

_Thoughts_

* * *

**Beast Boy and Raven Part II**

"Do you... like me?"

Raven had said it so quietly that he wasn't sure if she had even said it at all. He turned to look at her, a puzzled expression on his face. She had her hood up and was no more than a pair of eyes in the darkness - and after a moment, even her eyes were gone, leaving nothing but an empty void under her cloak. Beast Boy turned away and looked at the bay.

They were sitting next to each other on the shore opposite the Titans' Tower, looking out at the sunset, glorious fiery colored clouds broken by streaks of rose and vermilion. The waves from the bay rocked gently against the shoreline, where Raven had taken off her boots and was dipping her feet in the water. (Unfortunately, Beast Boy was not quite tall enough to do that.) Everything was quiet and peaceful, harmonic. Even Raven seemed a bit happier... well, if not happier, then not as moody as she normally was.

Certainly, that seemed to be the case as she spoke again. "Did you hear me?"

He blinked a couple times. "I didn't think you'd actually ask something like that."

Raven blushed slightly under her hood, but the darkness hid it from him. "Well, I did."

He gave her a weird look. "Do I like you."

"Uh huh."

"Do you mean, do I like you, or do I _like _you."

Raven gave off a noise of exasperation, and he laughed at her. "Fine, then don't answer," she growled at him, and fell silent again.

He laughed at her again. "No, I like you."

She didn't answer.

"Aw, come on Rae, I was only teasing you-"

"The name's Raven."

"Right. Raven."

"Remember it."

To a bystander, her monotone might have sounded harsh or cold, but Beast Boy knew better than to judge her just by the superficial sound of her voice. Listening carefully, and watching her carefully, he could tell that she actually wasn't intending to be mean to him or shun him at all. It was just the way she talked when she didn't want something.

When he was younger, or maybe less used to her, he would've gotten into a huge argument with her about being rude or creepy or unfriendly. He would have insulted her and made her feel bad. Now that he thought about it, he had been pretty mean to her a couple times before, not that it had been completely unwarranted but...

Why had he even been so mean to her, anyway?

He figured it was because he cared about her opinion.

"Do you?" She asked him quietly.

He looked at her. "Why do you know what I was think- Oh, telepath."

"Well?"

"I guess so."

"I matter to you?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Why is that surprising to you?"

She seemed to retreat further away from him, though she didn't actually move at all. "It's just... well, everyone has always hated me."

"For?"

"Being a demon. Or being rude. Different."

"Well, here's news for you, Rae - " She raised an eyebrow at him. "Raven. Sorry. But nobody hates you," he said gently.

"Oh really? Then why is it that every time I go out with you guys, people look at me like I'm some sort of witch or something? And they don't even know that I'm a demon."

"Well, not every time. Remember when we were in Tokyo? You even got to be a gum mascot -"

"Probably because I just helped save their city?"

"True. But people probably don't hate you as much as you think they do. You're probably imagining it or something-"

"Beast Boy."

"Right, you're an empath too."

"You know how hard it is when you save someone, and then you feel how scared they are of you? Like that little girl from when we beat that heart thing." (Episode with Malchior) "It makes you feel like you're a monster. And sometimes I can't help but feel that I am."

"Raven, look at _me._" Beast Boy shifted between several forms, a bird, a lion, a tiger, a puppy, a fly, then back to himself. "You're calling yourself a monster? Then what am I?"

"Normal."

He looked at her skeptically and she could not help but laugh a little at the absurdity of her previous statement. "Okay, you're not normal. But people don't think you're dangerous like I am. Or at least they're not scared of you..."

"That's just because of the way I act. If I bothered to show my true feelings, I doubt people would like me as much as they do."

"Your true feelings?"

Beast Boy shrugged. "It's not something I bother to talk about with most people."

"Okay, and I'm your friend," Raven paused. "Never thought I'd hear myself say that - " Beast Boy looked up and smirked at her, but sensed that she didn't want to be teased about it, so he left her alone. Raven smiled slightly.

"But I'm your friend. You can talk to me."

"Thanks. But I'm fine. I don't need to - "

"Don't play coy with me. I can practically feel it oozing out of you. You want to talk. Now spill."

"Stupid empath," he muttered, and Raven glared at him. He sighed. "Well, I suppose you know how it goes. When you first realize that you're different from _everyone _around you. You feel like you're some freak, especially when everyone else starts shunning you. You feel like you're the scum of society. And you wonder, what did I do to deserve this?"

"And then you get angry," Raven said softly. "You're mad because you're in this situation and nobody wants to help you. They just look at you like you're some anomaly."

Beast Boy nodded. "I thought you'd get it."

"But then you were taken in by a family, and though the hurt didn't go away, you did feel a bit better."

"But it will always be there. No matter what. It's not something you can just let go of. Because that's who you are. We'll always be different, and that will remind us that we're outcasts, even if we don't seem to be."

"Well, people look at me like I'm an outcast..."

"Some people do, I guess. But not everyone thinks you're horrible, Raven."

"Okay, name one person - "

"I don't."

Silence.

"Or Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, or any of the Honorary Titans. We all think you're brave and heroic. And strong, and kind. And-"

"Okay okay, I get it." Raven forced down a smile, though her lips still twitched. "So back to the original question. Do you like me?"

"I already said that I like you - "

"That's not exactly what I meant," she said so softly that he wasn't sure he had heard her. She did that quite a lot recently, he noticed.

Beast Boy blinked twice. "So you mean do I _like _you - "

"Nevermind."

"Raven - "

"I said never mind." She spoke clearly and distinctly this time, and he let it drop. It was silent again for a while.

The sun had almost completely set and the clouds were striated layers of deep violet and fading fire. Above them, in the night sky, the moon and stars had already begun to appear, along with an unexpected show, the aurora, dancing emerald-green lights amongst a mauve backdrop, almost like the gentle caress of a luminescent cascade. The sky responded with clouds lit with lavender light in the fading sun, gathering together and sending down droplets of water that reflected both viridian and violaceous light as one, falling in a veil of mist, sparkling in the evening air.

They looked at each other. Raven was still only a pair of eyes underneath her hood, but Beast Boy thought that he saw something shimmering in those dark eyes, as if she were crying silently inside, but too proud, or maybe too scared to let those tears out.

"Is something wrong?"

"Yes." Pause. "No. I'm fine."

"Raven... did I do something? Tell me if I'm bothering you - "

"It's not you," she murmured. "My fault. My problems."

He held his hands out to her. "I'm your friend too, you know. You can talk to me - "

"I can't."

"Please-"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because."

She turned away from him. He put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't touch me," she hissed.

He kept his hand on her shoulder. "Raven, please, you have to talk to me - "

"I said no!"

She moved away from him and buried her face in her hands. Her voice suddenly dropped drastically in volume and shook as if she were weeping, only no tears fell. "I'm sorry. I just can't."

Beast Boy looked at her, concerned. He could tell that she didn't want to talk, but that she needed to as well. Sometimes, what was best was not always what one wanted. He felt like he should respect her feelings and leave her alone, but that would also leave her miserable, without anyone to be there to comfort her. So unlike he usually did when Raven was in one of her moods, he stayed by her side and waited for her to face him.

And eventually, she did sit up, though her back was still to him and her hood still concealed her face. Raven wiped her eyes, feeling a bit of moisture on her fingertips. She looked up into the sky at the falling water, which was slowly beginning to intensify from a light mist into rain. Slowly, it came, soaking into her cloak and leotard, wetting her hair, leaving her body damp.

"You're gonna get soaked. Want to go inside?"

Raven looked down again. "No. I don't mind the rain. It feels nice."

They sat in silence again.

"Why are you still here?" The violet haired Titan said suddenly.

"I'll be here in case you need to talk to me. If you don't want to, then I'll stay just so that you know you're not alone. And even if you want me to leave, I like your company."

Raven turned slightly. She looked down at her hands and fidgeted with her sleeves, biting her lower lip. Why was he so interested in her? She was horrible. She was a demon, a monster who had killed everyone on the planet once, she was mean to him, no, not just mean, she was often pretty much just a bitch, going out of her way to make him feel miserable for God knew what reason, and then acting like she was justified. And he still cared about her.

"Raven, I care about you. I'll always have your back. I'll always be at your side when you need me."

Her eyes widened. He he just read her thoughts? He wasn't a telepath, was he?

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye and saw the earnestness in his face. No, he hadn't read her thoughts. He was just good at guessing what she was thinking and feeling. And he knew just how to comfort her.

That was why she loved him.

Okay, she could admit it to herself at least. _Yes. I love him. He's... more than just a friend to me. Nobody has ever tried to, or actually understood me like he does. And nobody knows how to comfort me like he does. I just wish that I hadn't been so mean to him in the past. I shouldn't have belittled him, or been so rude to him, or squashed his pride for the sake of my own feelings._

"Raven, I'm not going to leave you no matter what. You can say whatever you like to me. Call me annoying, immature, a brat, an idiot, a loser. I don't care. I know you wouldn't mean it. You never have. I know it's just a way for you to let out your own feelings."

Okay, why was he so good at reading her thoughts?

"Raven, it's fine if you don't want to talk. But you have to find a way to let out all of the pain pent up inside you. You can take it out on me. I can handle it."

_I can't. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I did that. You're the person I care about the most in this whole world. I couldn't bear to hurt you, even if you say you know that I don't mean it. I love you so much it hurts... it hurts more than anything else I've ever felt. _She clutched her chest, feeling the agony that tormented her heart, knowing that she would have to put up with it and that it would intensify the longer he stayed by her side and tried to comfort her. But she could not summon the courage to tell him to go away, either. She loved his company like he said he had liked hers.

He put a hand on her shoulder and this time, she turned to face him completely. He saw the redness in her eyes, her sad frown and trembling lips, and though it was hard to tell because of the rain, he fancied that she was crying. It was a testament to Raven's resilience and mental strength that despite all of her raging emotions, she managed to rein in her feelings and after a moment, she was back to being impassive, stoic, revealing nothing of her inner struggle on her face.

He noticed it, but said nothing and looked out at the bay once more, where the sun had set completely and it was dark, save for the light of the moon above their heads. He looked back at her after a moment.

"Why don't you talk to me?" He wondered out loud, more to himself than to her. "Do you hate me?"

Raven closed her eyes and willed her face to not betray the sudden pang of pain that pulled at her heart. "I don't," she whispered.

_Quite the opposite. Oh, if only you know how I truly felt, Beast Boy. But I can't admit it to you. Not like this. Not now. Not ever. _

_Why? _She asked herself.

_Because he doesn't love me. Because I'm afraid that if I admit it, it will ruin our relationship as friends. He won't look at me the same way. It'll be awkward. I can't have that happen. _

_You don't know that._

_I'm afraid, _she admitted to herself. _I don't want to be rejected. Around him, I can feel like I'm... somewhat normal. Comfortable. Like I'm not weird, or a freak, or a monster or anything. If I were to ruin that... _

He looked at her, and though her face was stony, he could see the emotion in her eyes. "You can tell me anything," he said softly. "Anything at all. It won't change anything. I'll always like you."

"_Like _me?"

"Yes," he hadn't missed the inflection in that one word. He just wondered if she would interpret his statement correctly.

Couldn't she see that he loved her? Maybe she did. Raven was probably the smartest person he knew. Certainly one of the most observant, and despite her gloomy exterior, she understood people very well. And she was a goddamn empath. There was no way she couldn't tell that he loved her. (Sadly, little did he know, Raven was completely oblivious when it came to one issue.)_  
_

Well, maybe she didn't love him back. That would explain a lot of things.

He knew she was a lot nicer than she appeared to be at first glance - he had found that out when she had comforted him after the whole Adonis incident, or helped find Cyborg find his car, or reassure him about Sarasim, or help Robin get over the Slade thing, or even accepted Starfire's presence in her meditation and going to the mall with her...

Maybe she was trying to spare his feelings this time. Maybe she knew that it would be painful for him if she told him that she liked him only as a friend. So she had simply avoided the issue and tried to talk about something else.

But that didn't solve anything. She had understood him so well without even trying. It wasn't even because of her telepathic abilities either - she had known exactly what his whole situation was like, being a freak, a monster, being _different. _Because she was exactly like him in that regard. She also understood why he acted the way he did. It was a coping mechanism. So that he wouldn't have to deal with how he really felt.

But he also loved that he _could _show how he really felt around her, and that she would understand those feelings too. It was a relief, to have someone he could talk to genuinely, rather than hide behind a mask of happy-go-lucky all the time. And she would sooth him - not just her words, but the sound of her voice, her comfortable presence, everything about her was reassuring.

Well, he did hate one thing about her. He really hated the fact that she would shove aside her own feelings and help everyone else before she helped herself. Raven said, and believed, that she was selfish, but really, she was one of the most selfless people he knew. Always helping others while dealing with her own despair... well, he also hated the fact that she thought of herself as worthless and a demon, because she really wasn't.

And in that moment, he also hated how distressed she had looked when she had said that she didn't hate him. Because, he thought, she didn't love him, but she was distraught because she knew how much that would hurt him, because she was afraid for his feelings. Which, in truth, she was. Despite all that had happened between them in the past, she really did care about him and wanted him to be happy. She wanted him to be comfortable around her so that he had a place to let out all of his feelings. Yes, that was it. That had to be it. She had been anxious because she was afraid that he would be hurt by the fact that she didn't love him.

"No." It was a single word, but it held so much power. "No," she repeated quietly. Raven shook her head, back and forth, feeling her hood slip off of her hair, the shadows covering her face disappearing. "You're wrong."

"You were reading my thoughts," Beast Boy said, a little perturbed by the way she was acting.

"So that's it," she said to herself. "How could I have been so blind?"

"... what?"

_He loves me too. _Oh, the joy that brought her! And suddenly the pain clawing at her chest was gone, and she felt her heart beat faster, not because of agony, but because of joy for once. _He loves me. I can't believe I didn't see that earlier. _

She sat beside him again and looked out at the calm night sea, watching the placid waters beat gently against the shore. A small smile crept up onto her face, and Beast Boy noticed that as well. He raised an eyebrow at her, wondering why she was acting so strangely.

"Uh, is everything okay, Rae - sorry, you like to be called Raven."

"No, it's okay," she replied.

"Okay, you're really acting weird now..."

"Am I?"

Suddenly, she put her hand over his and held it, squeezing slightly. And then Beast Boy understood. He wasn't quite as oblivious as Raven was, fortunately. It had become evident that maybe she _did _feel something for him. For whatever the reason, Raven, the dark, gloomy, loner Titan had become attracted to _him. _Just maybe.

He knew she was reading his thoughts. "Have you?"

Raven's smile widened a little. "Maybe I like you too. Just a little."

Well, for Raven, that was as good as an I love you.

* * *

A/N: Relationship progressing faster than I thought, but there's still going to be a Part 3 because why not.

On a side note, I finished this pretty quickly today - only took me an hour and a half to write the whole thing. (I get to sleep at 3AM instead of 4, awesome!) I suppose I was a little more motivated to write this one or something. Anyway...

Up next will be Starfire and Raven, and following that will be part 3 of Beast Boy and Raven.


	11. Starfire and Raven

Disclaimer: Don't own TT.

... nor do I own the premise of this chapter. The basic idea was stolen from the Teen Titans Go! comics (the Regarding Robin/One Morning chapter)... so what do I own? Hmm...

"Speech"

_Thoughts _

* * *

**Starfire and Raven **

Morning. 5:30 AM, to be precise, and ah, the sun had just begun to rear its ugly head over the horizon, casting its ungodly rays of light onto the stupid world and oh my God, sunlight sucked horribly. Well, it was that idiotic time of day called dawn again... so what better to do than go to sleep!

Okay, Raven didn't hate mornings _that _much. But she wasn't really a morning person.

Well, she wasn't really a day person either. The whole sunlight thing just didn't work for her.

Grumbling to herself, Raven stormed out of bed and slammed her curtains shut before crawling back under the covers.

Typical of Raven, she had been awake almost the whole night, and actually she had been outside on the shore of the bay, reading. It was something she loved doing, looking out over the dark waters - which was not something one might have usually expected of her... her friends always thought she would be cooped up in her room all day, reading her books, doing weird Raven things. Well, not true. She loved night not only because of her natural inclination toward it as a demon, but as a person as well. The moon was just so much _better _than the sun, and the varied patterns of stars in the sky were so intricate she thought she could stare at them forever.

Often, she would bring a book outside at night to read as well. One of her favorite spots was an abandoned dock with a single streetlight that dimly lit the old wooden planks and she would sit there, dipping her feet into the cool waters and feel a light breeze run through her hair. It was so quiet and peaceful compared to all the ruckus the others made during the day in the Tower. Even in her room she could often hear Beast Boy and Cyborg arguing, or Starfire's obnoxiously loud singing. Robin tended to be quieter - she appreciated that, even if he didn't intend to do it for her.

But, now it was day and her beloved night was over, so now she had to get some rest.

Ugh. That was why she hated mornings so much. The loss of night was like the loss of a good friend. And the sun, her enemy. Okay, not that extreme.

She still didn't like morning though. No need for a reason.

At least her bad mood was subsiding and she could sleep now...

"Oh Friend Raven!" Someone... gee, she wondered who... was pounding on her door.

_Just ignore her and she'll go away. _

"Ravennnnn! Might you be awake yet?"

Raven pulled a pillow over her head, trying to shut out Starfire's obnoxiously loud voice.

"Please Raven! The sun has already risen and the rooster has already given the call of morning! Surely you do not intend to keep sleeping..."

_I haven't even slept yet... _

"Fine," Starfire said grumpily after a moment. "You may just waste the morning away staying in your room sleeping. Hmph!"

_Finally... _into peaceful sleep.

* * *

Nope.

"Friend Ravennnnnnn!"

Raven's powers went haywire as she was torn from her sleep and a bunch of stuff in her room went flying - her bookcase fell over, her mirror flew off the wall and almost shattered as it hit the floor, and her bed flipped over.

Extracting herself from under the pile of blankets and the mattress, Raven got up, fuming, and looked at the clock. 6:30. Less than one hour of sleep.

"Raven! Might you be willing to go to the mall of shopping with me?"

_Star, the shops aren't even **open **yet._

Sighing, she began to put everything in her room back in place and lay back on her bed, feeling sleep close in again. Bad idea.

"Then I have no choice. I shall have to sing the one thousand three hundred and thirty seven verses of the - "

Raven was at the door instantly. "Fine. Just let me get dressed first."

Starfire jumped in glee.

* * *

Raven yawned as she walked through the very empty mall with Starfire, rubbing her eyes, struggling to stay awake. Because she had her hood over her head, it was hard to tell, but the dark bags under her eyes were enormous, although the expression on her face might... just maybe... have given away the fact that she was tired. Of course, Starfire was too busy looking at clothing and purses and all sorts of other dumb stuff to notice.

Although... Raven did fancy the floor-length raven black dress on display in one of the stores. It wasn't quite perfect, maybe a little too frilly for her tastes, but it was mostly plain, with a bit of embroidering at the edges. Maybe she could get ruffles at the end of the long sleeves instead, and maybe one with a slightly higher collar - she didn't exactly like revealing anything in her chest area, typically nothing even below her collar bones.

Of course, Starfire caught her looking and the next thing she knew, they were in the shop and the tailor was measuring Raven to find the most suitable dress for her, or if there was not one, to custom fit one to her.

Raven could be pretty picky about her clothing even if she didn't seem like the type to care about fashion, so the poor woman helping her had to bring out 11 dresses before she found one that Raven liked - similar to the plain black one, with ruffly sleeves and a high collar, only it was a deep orchid color, not unlike her hair. If one did not look carefully, it could pass as black. She decided she liked it.

And then she looked over at Starfire, who already had filled two shopping bags with clothing. It was a good thing the Titans had a lot of money from... well, everyone knew that Robin had rich friends.

But she had to give Starfire credit. Though the girl might not have been overly anal or obsessed with superfluous details as Raven was, she did pick things that looked good on her and were usually in style. Maybe it came with being a princess brought up in a royal court, but Starfire had picked up Earthly culture _very _quickly and had learned the intricacies of social etiquette almost as quickly as she had learned the English language. (Which incidentally had taken her but a second.) Raven had to admire the girl for being a lot more intelligent and observant than she appeared to be... though it seemed beyond her to observe that her friend was dying of sleep deprivation. And so the shopping continued!

* * *

Raven ended up buying three things - the dark dress, a mauve colored blouse, and a matching cloak that was only a shade darker. All purple.

Then there was Starfire, with seven bags of clothing and other accessories and the bill... well, Robin, err, rather Batman, was not going to be happy when he saw it. Despite all the money he had, the man was a stingy fellow.

Regardless, she had gotten a bit of shopping done, which she needed to do from time to time. (Little did the others know, she actually had a closet filled with different colored cloaks and she had a couple drawers filled with standard civilian clothes as well. Not much compared to Starfire's wardrobe but... quite a lot for Raven.) And it was only 9:30. She still had plenty of time to sleep. Raven rested her head on her soft pillow, blissful sleep finally overtaking her...

Just kidding. Ten minutes was all she had before the alarm in the Tower sounded.

Raven growled as she grabbed her communicator from her nightstand and looked at it.

_Just Plasmus, Cinderblock, and Overload. They can handle it by themselves. I need to sleep. _

It wasn't like Raven to miss out on a fight or anything; usually, she was the first one to arrive due to her teleportation ability and since she was the strongest one on the team in terms of sheer power, it was typically safer if she was there. Not that she did much of the offensive fighting anyway; she knew that if she accidentally lost control, someone might die.

Maybe she should go... well, actually, if they really needed her, she would be able to sense it anyway and she could be there pretty quickly. Sleeping was a better alternative. Back into the blissful world of dreams.

* * *

Her mind wandered about, meandering here and there among various scenes, a blur of whirling colors, different worlds, until it finally settled down on one. She recognized it from Starfire's descriptions of it - Tameran, prior to the Gordanian attacks.

Wow. It was actually just as beautiful as the girl had described it. Starfire was known for exaggerating things and not being entirely truthful about how good her planet was (mostly pertaining to its food), but she had been spot on this time. The lush plant life proliferated across the planet, broken occasionally by the dwellings that her people lived in. From afar, they appeared to blend in almost perfectly with the landscape and the many plants around them. There was a myriad of colors, green, purple, blue, red, all sorts of verdant flora that created a rainbow ambient, lacking only the brighter colors of yellow and orange, but it appealed that much more to her because of it.

It was placid too, without all the hustle and bustle of the busy cities of Earth. No rush. No swarm of a billion emotions from the too many people threatening to consume her mind.

Well, nothing was ever peaceful for long. She floated around aimlessly over the tranquil world for a while before a bunch of ships suddenly appeared overhead.

_The Gordanian invasion. _

She knew about it, Starfire had talked about it before, but hearing about something and experiencing it firsthand were two different things.

Raven's eyes widened, horrified, as she saw the landscape razed, people tortured then killed, war breaking out, the death toll rising on both sides... the war played out before her like a cinematic, as terrible as any of the nightmares that her father sent her, no, worse, because she could actually feel _every single thing _the Tameranians did. Including those feelings of being tortured, seeing loved ones die, seeing their homeworld destroyed.

Raven held her head in her arms and closed her eyes trying to shut it out, but the emotions were not so easily disposed of. They milled about inside her, millions of souls screaming in agony, crying out for help.

"No..." she breathed. "Stop it."

Of course it would not stop. The planet razed to the ground, verdant left destroyed. Turned into some sort of hell hole, not unlike the place her father had come from.

"No," she said a little more forcefully. "Azarath metrion zinthos!" She tried to summon her own powers to do something, anything, but they failed her. Had she really expected them to work?

"No!" She practically screamed. "Stop!"

* * *

Raven woke up, and instantly knew why she had had that dream. Starfire needed her help.

Letting out a string of curses, she pulled on a cloak over her leotard and began mentally searching for Starfire's location. She found it soon enough and quickly sent out her thoughts to the girl.

_Star, I'm coming. _

She waited a moment for a response, but grew yet more worried when she received none. She quickly entered one of her dimensional portals, and feeling the familiar darkness close in about her, hoped that Starfire was not seriously injured or worse.

She arrived at a junkyard with many piles of trash around, but not another soul in sight. Frowning to herself, Raven reached out with her mind, sensing everything within the immediate vicinity, and...

"Star," she whispered, and ran quickly to where the alien girl was.

She wasn't hurt _too _badly, but she was bruised all over and bleeding from a couple of wounds. Starfire made a shh-ing motion as she approached and Raven nodded, choosing to communicate telepathically instead.

_What happened? _A blue glow enveloped her hands and she began healing the other girl.

_Slade. _Starfire closed her eyes. _It was not just the three creatures. He was here as well. I was barely able to make the escape. He is still here somewhere. _

Raven looked at her seriously. _We have to tell the others-_

_No, please. We cannot tell friend Robin, at least. He will not know how to deal with this well. _

_But we might need backup - _

_Friend Raven, if we work together, I am sure that we can beat the Slade and his foul beast._

_But Star- _

Starfire smiled. She was looking better already - her bruises were fading and the bleeding had stopped. _Why do you not have confidence in us?__  
_

_It's not like that - _

_Then what is it? _She earned a critical look from the redhead. _You... do not trust yourself? _It was a question, but not really a question._  
_

Raven looked away and sighed. _Whatever. We'll do this your way. It's Cinderblock and Slade, right? _

_Yes. Friend, there is no need to be afraid. We will be able to fight them. _

Starfire knew Raven well enough to know that the dark Titan had her fair share of doubts whenever she was forced to fight offensively. Typically, her position on the team was more defensive, shielding everyone, healing, all that good stuff, or subduing an enemy by restraining them with objects. But something like that didn't work so easily on Slade or Cinderblock. Whenever fighting such things, Raven was always afraid that trying to actually hurt them would awaken her inner demon and feed its bloodlust, eventually to the point where she would no longer be able to control it and her demon would be set free completely. She was afraid of her own lack of control. That was why she sometimes needed reassuring and that was what Starfire was there for.

_Let's go, Star._

* * *

(A/N: Stated it many times, I'm bad at battle scenes, so I'm not writing one here.)

They won the battle pretty handily, though Slade got away like he always did. At Starfire's insistence, they did not mention the villain to the others mostly out of her concern for Robin's mental health. That was something else Raven respected about her. Her tact, often her concern for her friends and people in general that did not go noticed, and the fact that she did not care. Starfire would do things that would make other people happy or stay happy without them even knowing, and that was all that mattered to her. It was the act, not the credit. Raven actually admired that about her.

There was that certain measure of regard for the alien girl, though she was still annoying, that made them close in a way that she wouldn't be with the other Titans. Yes, Raven also respected Robin in some senses, but not the same way she respected Starfire, who, despite her being from Tameran, was in many was more human than the rest of them. Or perhaps humane might have been a better word for it. Either way, that was the way she felt about it, and that was precisely why she put up with going with Starfire to the mall so often, despite not wanting to most of the time.

It wasn't because Raven felt like she owed Starfire anything. It was more because she felt that as a _friend, _she would do things to make the girl happy, even if she did not enjoy the activity itself. Because she knew that Starfire would do anything to make her happy as well.

Which was why, the next morning, when Starfire came to ask to join in her meditation, Raven suggested they go to the mall instead.

* * *

A/N: A bit of a different portrayal of Starfire than the one in Wings of Crepuscule. More tempered, like classic Starfire.

Some explanation on character portrayals...

Remember that I have nothing against most of the characters personally. I find most of them just fine and I really don't hate any of them; the only reason I may portray some of them differently (appearing to be mean, short tempered, etc.) is to experiment with writing different types of personalities. And some characters happen to have a trait that I can exaggerate a little to make them a little bit ... flawed shall we say? ... but still a perfectly good person.

Another point is that a character's thoughts are actually not always in italics. Often times, I will use the narrator to state the character's thoughts in a way the character might say it (the term technically is "free indirect discourse" for those interested), so for example when the narrator says Starfire is sometimes annoying, it's not me (as the narrator) saying it, but actually Raven. It can be confusing, but hopefully you will get used to it.

Next chapter will be the final part of Beast Boy and Raven, which will also conclude the 10 pairings of the Teen Titans.


	12. Beast Boy and Raven Part III

Disclaimer: Don't own TT

"Speech"

_Thoughts_

* * *

**Beast Boy and Raven Part III **

They hadn't told the others yet. Well, more like _Beast Boy _hadn't told anyone, since he knew that Raven wouldn't have wanted him to and she would have never told anyone herself. And if anyone noticed that she was being a bit nicer to him than she normally was, they kept it to themselves.

But it was weird because sometimes she would quietly come sit next to him and play a video game with him (and beat him at it, whereupon Cyborg would tell him that he was just bad), or attempt to cook him some tofu dish which turned out okay, not as good as he made it, but not as bad as her waffles had been, and he was grateful for the effort anyway. And best of all she would let him sit by her while she was reading or out at shore, looking at the sea, though she still didn't like it when he disturbed her meditation.

Then again, he had the tact not to do something like that so all was well.

And for his part, the pranks on Raven, the annoying jokes, trying to get her to play stankball or participate in any of his stuff that he knew she might not like, all of it stopped. Completely. Because he was trying to be considerate of her feelings for once, and what a miraculous change it was in both of their lives. No more fighting. Irritation, or frustration - at least not from their stupid arguments that they once had. In a way, life was better because of it, though beside that, nothing had really changed. But that one thing, their friendship, which had grown over the years, was enough to make life wonderful. If nothing else, it made life worth living.

Just friends.

_Just friends?_

Or something more.

That was always a question in the back of both of their minds. For Raven and for Beast Boy, true friendship was something very hard to come by. For Raven, it should have been obvious why. And Beast Boy? He found it hard to show his true self to other people, not always happy-go-lucky as he seemed to be, much more sensitive than he let on, more hurt, scarred by his suffering in the past, and by the fact that he was _different... _not many people could understand and he didn't expect them to. Those precious few that did, Raven in particular, he held close to him. Good friends.

So then it was dangerous to go further than that and say that they were more than friends because if they went further and it didn't work out, it would ruin their friendship and make things awkward. And neither of them wanted that to happen.

"So, just friends?"

"I don't know."

It was something both of them asked and both of them replied the same way each time. Because how were you supposed to know when it was okay to go past that line and say, yes, you're not just someone I like?

"But you're not just someone I like," Beast Boy had said.

And Raven had sighed. She had thought about it for a long time, but there was no good way to express her thoughts so she said the only thing she could. "I know."

"I don't want to push it either. You understand?"

"Of course. You are... special to me," she said with difficulty, the words escaping from her mouth slowly. Not used to any sign of affection, that was part of it, but also how much more she meant than just that. And how much more she _couldn't _let herself feel because what if it really didn't work out between them?

A whole bunch of what ifs.

"But we don't know until we try either," she had said, more to herself than him.

"It would almost seem like we're forcing it," he had said, and she had looked at him in surprise. He had reservations about _them _as well.

"Then we can just be friends."

"I guess so."

But then they would always stare at each other awkwardly, and know that it wasn't going to be that way forever. It would eventually escalate to a point where they couldn't just be friends, and they would either be together or be doomed to crash and burn. They both knew it. But until that time came, they would simply cherish the time they had together.

* * *

It came upon them more quickly than either of them expected. When she sensed that his feelings had reached a boiling point, and she could barely contain hers any longer.

It started slowly, at first, when Beast Boy had been unable to concentrate on his video games when Raven walked into the room, or when Raven had been unable to meditate effectively because, well, she just couldn't. And then it got worse, when Beast Boy couldn't focus on anything at all while Raven was around, and the violet haired girl would get distracted from her reading because he was staring at her, and she couldn't help but stare back and not tell him to go away because he was distracting her, because she actually didn't mind.

And whenever the Titans were called to fight crime they always watched each other and made sure the other person was not hurt (which they did for all of their friends, but especially for each other), and the looks of worry they gave each other might have been missed by the other Titans, but not by each other, and even for the most minor wounds, they acted like the other person was in a life threatening condition because well, they worried about each other just that much.

And of course they would always mutter back a quiet "I'm okay," but it was not like that stopped the other person from worrying.

In the end, Beast Boy brought it up first while they managed to find some time alone on the shore, looking out over the bay at the sunset. He had found her, sitting alone, hood up, as usual, staring at the waves. She gave no indication that she noticed him approaching, but she didn't seem surprised as he sat next to her - he supposed she had sensed him, it was one of her powers to be able to sense everything in her vicinity.

Normally, she would have ignored him and continued looking at the sea, but this time, she turned toward him and lowered her hood, gazing into his eyes. A wordless expression of almost mourning. They simply watched each other as the sun dipped lower and lower, until he finally spoke.

"This is unbearable."

She knew what he was talking about and nodded.

"Then-"

"Still have my doubts-"

"Of course, but-"

"I can't stand it-"

"Maybe we can give it a shot-"

"I'm afraid-"

"So am I."

They spoke in unison, sentences flowing smoothly between them. As if they were not two people at all, but a pair. A collective entity.

"Are you willing to give me a chance?"

"Always. I'm just-"

"I understand. So am I."

Raven tended to doubt herself a lot, and it was something Beast Boy knew well. She was the type to pull out that whole "it's not you it's me" statement, but in her case she would have definitely believed it to be true. Everything that went wrong, to an extent, was her fault because she could not be better.

So he was all the more determined to make it work out, if it happened to begin with.

"Are you happy with this?"

"No." She paused. "Not yet."

"Do you think-"

"Being happy doesn't come easily. And isn't something I'd cherish either."

"Then what do you want-"

"To be content. Someone to share everything miserable with."

"That doesn't sound very-"

"But you understand."

He nodded. Some people, like Raven, were almost never happy and would never be happy, except for very rare moments, and they really were moments. A flash of happiness, then it was gone. She might be relieved though, or at peace, or relaxed, or maybe just not as miserable and self doubting, and maybe he could help her with that. And of course he understood that "sharing her misery" didn't alleviate the misery itself but it made her feel less alone. She still would try to fight it by herself, of course, but if she needed it, he was to be her safety net. Something for her to fall back on so that she didn't crash alone. And she would be the same for him.

A weird relationship, but one that he could handle because they _needed _each other. So...

"Happy or not happy, it has to be done."

"Nothing ever has to be done," she replied softly. "But then I feel like I'd kill myself."

He looked at her, appalled. "Don't say that."

She pulled up the sleeve of her leotard, revealing many scars on her pale grey skin. She turned her arms upward, revealing more on her wrists. He closed his eyes, pained with the sight of them, like each one was a cut on him as well.

"Surprised?" She asked quietly.

He couldn't say that he was. "Why?"

"I don't know."

A classic Raven response, meaning, it's hard to explain and very complicated so you'll have to guess. But this time, he didn't have to ask her to explain. After a moment, she continued speaking.

"Feeling worthless. A demon, only good for destroying things, being evil, being angry, making other peoples' lives horrible. Like yours."

"You didn't-"

"I'm over it now. I've accepted that I'm part demon. But also when my father was coming. I thought about everything, every way out. None of them worked. So I tried to kill myself."

His eyes widened because he knew that she very well might have gone through with it. In fact, now that he thought about it, she probably would have gone through with it. Why hadn't she?

"Because it wouldn't have stopped anything. Not going to go into details of the inner workings of portals, but if I died, the portal would have still opened. The energy wouldn't have disappeared. So I decided to stay and see if I could do anything to stop him. To atone for my-"

"You're not a sinner. Or a coward. You're the bravest, most caring person I know."

"Been said so many times-"

"It's true-"

"Not very romantic though."

He shrugged. "Then what is romantic?"

She turned away. "Being able to sit silently with someone and understand each other without saying anything."

"We've already done that."

Raven paused and thought carefully for a moment. "Yes. We have."

"So what does that mean-"

"It means... it means..." her voice trailed off into a whisper. "I need you. We have to be together."

He wasn't going to protest if it was coming from her.

"Okay. We're together."

Didn't really make much of a difference, now that he thought about it. The statement that they were "together" or not "together." It actually hadn't changed anything at all.

"Well, it means we can do more stuff 'together'," Raven countered his thoughts. "Like go out, like a couple. And it would be okay, since we're together now."

"You're okay with that? Being seen in public alone with me? Like, you're okay with the others knowing we're dating?"

"I wouldn't just call it dating-"

"Used it for lack of a better word-"

"Well, thank you for trying to be considerate."

"I mean, I'm not going to complain if that's what you want-"

"Don't your feelings matter at all?" She retorted. "What do _you _want?"

"Whatever you want."

"Beast Boy-"

"I just want us to be comfortable together."

"But you have needs too-"

"We're not going to be together every second of every day. My needs can be taken care of by hanging out with my other friends. But you avoid everyone else and do everything by yourself, so while we're together, we'll be taking care of _your _needs."

"But-"

"Stop being so selfless, Raven. Think about yourself for once."

"But-"

"Raven-"

"Ugh. Whatever. We don't need to actually come out and say we're dating or anything. If we're discreet enough, nobody except Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg will notice."

"Fine with me. Fine with you?"

"Well, I'd rather they not know, but it can't be helped. We just don't have to make a huge scene in public and go around making out or anything, and nobody will notice we're together. After all, we're Titans, we're often seen together anyway. Just not _together._"

"Yeah. And you probably aren't the type to make out in public or in private anyway."

"Want to bet?" She smirked at him.

"Actually no. That would destroy my image of you."

"Good," she replied. "Because I would have lost the bet. But hugs are okay, right?"

She didn't wait for an answer and closed in, squeezing him tightly.

* * *

They had gone to a classy restaurant, the type that Raven probably would have liked, and Beast Boy wasn't too picky so he had enjoyed it as well. The food was excellent, at least, and though he wasn't used to wearing fancier clothes, he was fine with it as well. There was a lot of stuff set up for couples in Jump, like dances, love tunnels, etc. but neither of them was going to be caught in those things, so they opted to watch a movie (ironically, a fanmade one which featured them getting together, though not in the way either of them would have preferred - it made them seem like love crazed fools, which they really weren't) and then sit on the shore and watch the moon rise. Ordinarily, couples would have watched the sun rise or set together, but Raven, being more nocturnal, and liking the darkness, liked the sight of the pristine white moon more than the sun. And the beast part of Beast Boy liked it as well. And so they sat there, perfectly comfortable in each others' presence, and she even pressed her hand against his for a moment before moving it away again.

They did it a few more times and were discreet about it enough that even the other Titans did not notice, just the way Raven would have preferred it. And it was quite enjoyable for both of them. Going out not really to get to know each other - they knew each other pretty well already - but just to enjoy life for what it was. Or in Raven's case, to escape from the more gloomy aspects of life, and to get to know something better. For her, that was enjoyment.

Of course, nobody could be blind forever, and Robin had been the first one to notice (trained by the world's greatest detective, who would've guessed?) but he had simply smirked and kept his mouth shut because he knew Raven pretty well as well, and knew that she would have wanted him to keep silent about it. And she appreciated that. And Beast Boy's respect for their leader also grew.

Cyborg had found out next by sheer accident - he had encountered them in the same theater when going out with Sarah one day, and he hadn't made a scene at all, but merely winked at Beast Boy, signaling that he knew as well. But he had kept silent, knowing that both his green friend and violet one would not want him to talk about _them, _and besides, he was mature enough not to tease two people who genuinely cared about each other.

And Starfire had found out last, but by then, because both Robin and Cyborg knew, everyone could simply look at her strangely as if she _should've _known all along and that she was blind for not noticing, but really it wasn't her fault because Robin was simply the most observant out of all of them (maybe besides Raven, but that could be contested) and Cyborg had found out by luck. But either way she was very happy with them and nearly choked both of them to death with one of her hugs.

In the end, despite all their fears, everything had worked out alright.

* * *

A/N: Not my style, but a happy ending for once.

End of all the pairings with the normal Titans, but I'll go ahead and continue with some bonus pairings.


	13. Raven and Nightwing

Disclaimer: I do not own TT or DC comics

This is something long overdue...

Special mention of **Nkcandygirl **who was one of my first reviewers/supporters and wanted to see some Raven/Nightwing stuff. So... here's a short one shot, and keep your fingers crossed if you want to see a Rae/Nightwing multichapter fic because I might get one started soon-ish (maybe in a month?).

Now about this chapter... I should mention that most of my fanfiction writing is not really like my other writing (which I also state on my profile), but this chapter might be a bit more similar to my usual stuff. See if you like it.

Final notes: not all of the plot devices are of my creation - have to give out credit to the movie The Dark Knight Returns and to the episode How Long is Forever from the TT show for some events/ideas.

And a word of warning, this chapter should only be read by mature audiences. It's a very melancholic oneshot and it can be violently depressing at times. (But fear not, if I write a multichapter Raven/Nightwing, it won't be like this).

"Speech"

_Thoughts _

* * *

**Raven and Nightwing **

_Ten years to the day. The passing seasons, years of my life gone by, moments seemingly eternities, but here still am I, standing guard in solitude over a long dead city, silent watcher of the snowy decay. Ten years since we were last together, ten years apart. Friends, family, those I loved, all gone, not dead, but lost, not distant, but apart. Friends no longer. A once vibrant city, filled with youth and vigor, much like we were, now but ashes grown cold in frozen enervation. Like those who once called themselves family. No energy, no vitality, hopeless specters drifting aimlessly in an equally hopeless world. I stand alone, a beacon of darkness in a darker void, a ray of hope belying the twilight from which I come, shades of lifeless humanity, evening of faith of man._

_Winter is upon us again, though it feels as if it is always winter. A chill in the air, ever present, only deepens as the skies grow grey, as the snow cascades down from the barren heavens, taunting in its pure whiteness, pristine clarity, innocence, as if to ridicule me, us, those who called themselves heroes, as pure and white and good as the frozen skies, who turned out to be as black as the ashes that defile the wintry grounds._

_The world cast not in black and white but shades of grey, neither good nor evil, but is as is, a myriad of diverse motives, each person living alone, for his wants, his needs, her dreams, her desires, living in a way that makes this hell of a world seem less hellish, living so that every moment of every day seems not like endless torment, but something bearable._

_Here we live, in dearth of life, wake of death, and ask ourselves, why? _

_The answer, I don't know. Because. Because living is all I have left, because I have nothing to lose, nothing to gain. _

_So here do I abide, desolate sentinel of memories of ages past. _

Nightwing frowned and looked up at the sky. The sun had just begun to set.

* * *

Another night. Vagabonds wandering the streets, looking for their prey. A young woman, walking alone, shivering because her coat was too worn, too thin to block out the cold, carrying a tiny purse by her side. They stalked her for a while, and as she passed an alleyway, surrounded her.

She looked at them, not fearlessly, but rather flatly, no emotion in her at all, as if they were a mere annoyance.

"What do you want?" Her voice was empty, hollow.

"What you got in that purse, missy?"

"Nothing that you would want."

"Why do you go ahead and show us then?"

She shrugged and opened it, revealing some lipstick and an old cellphone. Her attackers looked at each other and backed away, not bothering to waste their time with somebody who had nothing to give.

Not that most people had anything to give anyway. Almost everyone was extremely poor, to the point that most people could not find enough food to eat. In one sense, crime rates had fallen because of that - there were almost no muggings, no murders, no assaults any more because there really was no point. If one had the energy to do something like that, it would have been better spent looking for food, or warm shelter.

Then, of course, the rates of breakins, thefts, those sorts of crimes had skyrocketed, and because of that, there was hardly a store in sight anywhere in Jump because business owners were too afraid of having their goods stolen. And it wasn't like the law enforcement was going to stop the thieves anyway. The police were as underfed as most people, and hardly a soul had the energy to do any crime fighting.

Nightwing got by by virtue of who he was, the Batman of Jump city, always able to find resources, always able to continue his fight for justice, but then again, what was justice anymore? Was justice punishing people who were just trying to find a way to live? Was it trying to throw them in empty prison cells that were no different than their homes, cold and empty, where they would be fed trashy prison food rather than live on empty stomachs on the streets? To beat those that resisted to a pulp, though nobody even resisted anymore because who had the energy to put up a fight? Was justice him being able to find food, to live comfortably (compared to everyone else) and not share it, see all the suffering and know that he was okay, and keep all his good fortune to himself?

Of course, he could not provide for everyone else, but perhaps he should have tried to help someone? Anyone? His old friends? Cyborg was still holed up in the tower, no need for food, or warmth because he was part robot. And he had no desire to see the man who was once Robin anyway. Beast Boy, playing the one man circus, he could eat anything an animal could, he could keep warm by changing shape, and besides, he had no desire to see Nightwing either. Starfire had gone back to Tameran. She had said that she had no desire to be a part of a world where friends were not friends anymore, and people were not people, but lifeless spirits. Not her exact words, but he had to substitute some words for her Tameranian ones. And Raven? She had vanished. Gone one day, gone from her room, from the Tower, from the world for all he knew, without a trace.

Her parting had been the strangest one.

They had all sort of drifted apart exactly the way Starfire had described it. The Rekma, drifting apart of friends. Yes, Cyborg and Beast Boy had always had their arguments, but it had gotten out of hand just once, when they had just been joking around and accidentally hurt Starfire in the process, but of course accidents changed everything and they had blamed each other for it. Of course, the next day they had "forgiven" each other, but it was easy to see the wariness they had around each other after that because they both knew that they had screwed up and had taken it too far, and that had been the beginning of their drifting apart.

Cyborg and Robin had always been at odds, two leaders each wanting to be in charge. One failed mission because of bad decisions from both of them. Because they disagreed and couldn't come to a compromise, so they had messed up and it had been a huge mess hunting Brother Blood down and finally beating him. At the cost of their friendship.

And Raven was usually pretty cool with most of them, even if she was rather moody or anti social, but they had come to accept her for what she was. Of course, that was with the exception of Beast Boy, who had pulled yet another one of his pranks on her, only she had reacted more strongly than anyone had expected (maybe she hadn't been getting enough meditation in? or maybe she was reacting to their bad moods as well, since she was an empath) and had disappeared into her own room for several days. And then Robin had given Beast Boy a lecture to not bother her, only Beast Boy couldn't see why he had been wrong, and he and Robin had gotten into an argument as well.

For the most part, it had been a huge downward spiral of mishaps and negative emotions, but it had escalated quickly, and before they knew it, the tension in the Tower had grown to a boiling point. It had been then that one day, he had been unable to find Raven at all.

It was weird, he had thought, because they had had a bond ever since she had tried to help him with his Slade obsession, and he had always been able to sense her presence, if not her thoughts or emotions behind that psychic connection. That was why it was inexplicable that she had just completely vanished. No trace of her at all. The only thing that could have happened was that she had severed it, but the question was why? She had been on very good terms with him despite the dangerous mood of everyone else surrounding them and maybe it was because he was growing apart from everyone else, including Starfire, who just couldn't understand why he had antagonized Beast Boy and Cyborg so much, but he had begun to confide in her a bit more. And she had been surprisingly understanding, probably because she felt the same way as he did. As his relationship with Starfire had decayed along with his friendship with the other members of the team, he had grown closer to Raven, and she to him. Then she had just left.

And that was the final straw. Once they had been unable to find her and she had not returned after a week, Starfire had decided to go back to Tameran, and it wasn't like the three of them were going to stay together, so they had all left. And then everything had gone downhill from there.

* * *

Yet, despite the fact that they were not supposed to be friends anymore, he found himself thinking of them more and more. Why had they grown apart? Had the world deteriorated into such a horrible state because of them? Or the lack of them as a team? What were they doing now?

Cyborg, he had spoken to, but it seemed that the man had given up on everything. And besides, they weren't really friends anymore, though Nightwing made an effort to try to get him to return to his hero ways. Beast Boy, he knew of, and maybe he cared a little, but he pretended not to, mostly because he had offended Raven so much and had been so inconsiderate. Starfire, he wondered if she was doing well.

And Raven?

Why did he even think or care about her so much? Was it because of their past friendship? Or that something had grown between them in those final days when his relationship with Starfire had fallen apart? The most reclusive, but the most interesting person he had ever met. Still didn't explain why he cared about her though. For some reason, it was important to him what she thought, what she felt about everything, that she was okay and safe, not that he could do anything to help her at all. She was gone.

Still, he wondered about her. A mystery even to him, but a good friend as well. One he who had seen his darkest secrets and had kept her mouth shut about them, tactful enough to not question him about them, except to comfort him when the pain of his parents deaths returned. She knew practically everything about him, yet he knew next to nothing about her.

There was a lot to find out. Why she was the way she was, part demon but also a superheroine, gloomy and reticent yet the most caring person he knew. Strong, independent, but a person who needed help, the support of friends, if even just one other. Not the normal type of support, no, she was not that needy to require someone she could admit all her feelings to, all her grief, sorrow, hatred, and pain. All she needed was someone's presence. That alone was comfort enough.

So even if he did not know who she was as a person, he knew what she wanted and needed, which had been why she had been attracted to him as well. How attracted, he did not know, but certainly they had been good friends.

But, as the saying went, it was no use dwelling on the past.

Actually, in this case, that was completely wrong. The present world was basically hell. Why not think about better times in the past, when he had had good friends, or at least one good one - Raven - when the world wasn't destitute, devoid of all vitality? It was better to lose himself in his own imagination. To reflect on pleasant years gone by rather than to live in present, inescapable misery. So why not dwell on the past?

Especially since, in those days, Raven was still with him.

* * *

One day, he woke suddenly, dreams, maybe nightmares, of crepuscular birds haunting him, a swarm of four eyed creatures flying after him, not in pursuit, but merely following. Like they wanted something from him, as if they were stalking him. Their soft, high pitched cries, eerie, like voices of young children, spectral, unearthly like the sounds of otherworldly apparitions. Eyes like those of demons, beaks jagged and sharp, reminiscent of fangs. Accompanying him persistently, their presence at once comforting and discomfiting.

A light nip on his skin. A soft peck at his leg. On his shoulders, nuzzling with the soft flesh of his neck, milling about him, touching, feeling, sensing, piercing gazes seeming to bore into his soul, penetrate the defenses of his mind, lay bare the foundations of who he was. And then a spark in a long dead area of his head. Something gone cold long ago, a flare of ardor, warming his body.

He sat up immediately, rubbing his temples with clenched fists, wondering if it was real. The burst of sensation had faded completely - perhaps it had been a part of his dream, but perhaps not. Maybe he dared to hope that it wasn't? The voices of those onyx colored birds still perturbing him, he rose up and donned the mask and black costume of Nightwing, finding an odd sense of comfort in his superhero guise.

Leaving his usual haunt, going up into the city, already night, moonless and starless skies veiled in dense mists and clouds, lightless city empty, nobody else in sight, bitterly cold, bitterly dark, bitterly deserted. Once again snowing, though the atramentous ambient cast a grey quality about the snow, ashen, forlorn.

He thought about Raven again. Unlike most people, she had liked days like these. Days with rain and darkness, or wintry cold. He supposed it was because of her personality, pensive and temperamental, which the atmosphere certainly fit well. He didn't blame her, he liked sunlight and dawn as much as the next man, but he also liked the supposedly gloomier days as well.

He found himself thinking about Raven a lot these days, probably because winter had just arrived, and if he recalled correctly, it was her favorite season. Not surprising in the least. The nights were longer, the days were not as bright or cheery, there was a lot to like about winter, he had to admit. It wasn't luminous and heated like summer, teeming with green life, like spring (which he knew she didn't care about, for or against), or calm and languid like autumn. Winter storms could be violent, even fiercer than the lightning storms found in summer, but it could also be depressed, a dreary snowdrift, but also at times, contentedly pretty. A lot like Raven's personality once again. And not too unlike his own.

Indeed, Nightwing himself had a rather obsessive, fierce streak, but he also had that part of him that could be very content, at least he had had that characteristic in the past. Although he hadn't really been depressed, maybe a bit saddened or down, but not completely morose as Raven had been. He thought about that part of her a lot as well. She had tried to kill herself on more than one occasion, whether it had been to try to stop the portal for Trigon, when she had almost lost control of her demon and killed innocent people, or when the Titans had begun to break apart and the negative emotions of everyone had built up inside her.

He remembered that - he had gone up to visit her room because he sensed distress through the bond and he had found her clutching her wrist, her face very pale, eyes nearly closed, almost passed out from blood loss. He had been shocked, of course, but judging by the scars on her arms, he figured it wasn't something new. She had been distraught for a long time, probably since the day she was born. So he hadn't commented on it or told anyone else, he had simply been there for her.

Unlike now. She was gone and he could no longer support her if she needed it. Nor could her presence comfort him.

He looked up at the misty clouds. The strange shadows cast by and upon them reminded him of Raven's demonic form, one he had only seen in full light once. A reminder of how fearsome, how violent she could be. That was one point they hadn't been on good terms with in the past. He hadn't realized it before, but Raven took a hard stance against villains, those people who were actually evil. The demented ones like Slade or Brother Blood who hurt other people without a care in the world, she would have liked to kill them.

And yet it was also weird because she stood in that area between hero and villain. Willing to understand what made the criminal do what he or she did. Why the crime was committed, and to understand that some people who did break the law were not actually evil at all. Like Catwoman. Or Jinx. Or quite a few of the old HIVE people. Or even those like Harvey Dent, who had been twisted by the world into what he was.

But every time she lost her temper, he was also reminded that she was not afraid to kill when necessary.

In the past, he had felt differently. It wasn't the whole Batman "it is not my place to pass judgment" thing that stopped him. He took a different approach - it was wrong to take another life, even that of a mass murderer, and if he could stop them in any other way, it would be better than becoming a murderer himself. Because then he would have stooped to their level.

And then over the years he had come to understand her point of view, why she could be so empathetic but harsh at the same time. She was not killing them out of a personal grudge or self righteousness. As people they had their reasons for why they had become what they had, and for what they were doing. But their actions themselves were a danger to innocent people. The things they did could easily turn people into villains like them, but it wasn't just the logical reason. She just didn't like it when people got hurt. So she put an end to it. Not because of a grudge.

In the end, he had found that to be a more effective policy than to simply stuff the criminal in jail and hope he or she would not be able to break out. Putting down the really bad ones and trying to help the rest. That was how Jinx had turned to becoming a hero in the first place for example.

Nightwing looked at the sky again and found himself standing in the shadow of a gigantic raven shaped cloud.

* * *

At first he couldn't believe his eyes. The cloak blended in perfectly with the ashen grey snow, so he had been unable to see it at first, but when he looked closer, it became a solid outline in the frozen storm outside. He had gone inside tonight because there was reported to be a furious storm for several hours starting at midnight with temperatures below zero degrees. Not something any normal person could just stand in and survive - hell, plenty of people inside their homes would probably be dead by tomorrow.

But there the figure was, at two AM, standing out in the raging blizzard. Apparently just fine.

Frowning to himself, Nightwing climbed the ladder that led out of his lair to the ground above. He prepared himself and opened the hatch, feeling the freezing air and snow sting his bare skin. It was hard to see anything through his mask, but there was a tingling in the back of his mind that told him the right way to go. Staggering against the wind, he headed into the storm blindly, not knowing why he was doing it, but still feeling compelled to find the figure he had just seen.

It felt like forever but it had probably been just a couple minutes before he came upon the motionless grey cloak, seemingly suspended in midair, the being beneath it so completely still that it might have been dead for all he knew. As he approached it, he realized that it was smaller than he had originally thought, maybe only standing at five and half feet tall, and judging by the way the cloak curved around it, probably a female.

Who else could it be?

"Raven," he breathed out.

"Richard," she greeted him uncertainly, using his real name. "It has been... quite some time since we last saw each other."

He tried to speak, but no words would come out.

"You should go inside," Raven said after a moment. "You'll freeze to death."

"So should you," Nightwing replied finally.

"I... am fine."

"Then come inside with me so we can talk. I'll make you some tea."

He sensed her nervousness somehow and moved forward to reassure her. Raven drifted slightly away, indicating that she did not want to be touched, and he backed off.

"The bond has reopened," she murmured to herself. She breathed out lightly. "I will come with you," she said softly. "Lead the way."

* * *

They stared at each other for a long time. She sipped her tea. He stared at her. She closed her eyes and he stared at her. She fidgeted with the sleeve of her cloak and he stared at her.

"You seem nervous."

Raven nodded. Underneath the hood, the glowing orbs of light that were her eyes closed. Nightwing looked at her awkwardly for a while before peeling off his mask and leaning in closer.

His voice almost seemed accusing. "You left us."

Raven's eyes still did not open. "Sorry."

"Where were you?" He asked worriedly.

Raven looked away. "Places."

"Raven-"

"A lot has happened while I was gone."

"Probably _because_ you were gone."

"I'm not that important-"

"More than you think."

Raven shrugged. "There were people who wanted me gone."

"Those people are gone now."

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"Where were you?" Nightwing asked again.

"Away."

"Obviously, but that doesn't tell me anything-"

"This world is filled with pain."

Nightwing got an image of her squeezing her eyes tightly shut, as if she were in great agony herself. He knew that she could not only feel the misery plaguing everyone in the world, but felt bad for them as well.

"But not your ordinary sort of pain. It's like... suppressed. Even in their minds, everyone is completely emotionless. They only live to survive, nothing more. Only in the deepest recesses of their souls is it still there. Everything bundled up."

Nightwing shrugged. "The whole world is like that now. Not just Jump. Metropolis, Gotham, Central, everywhere."

"Who's still left?"

"Mostly everyone. Only, they've changed. Even Flash is pretty grim nowadays. They're not the heroes they once were."

Raven nodded slowly. "So it seems." Momentary silence.

"So, where were you?"

This time, Nightwing didn't even get a response. He sighed. Raven was evading his question, that much was obvious. He wasn't sure why, however, and he wasn't the telepath so he couldn't just pry into her mind to find out why. Not that he would have done something like that.

"Maybe I'll tell you sometime," she sensed his irritation. She paused. "The team - no longer a team."

"That was expected."

"Yeah. But I'm surprised you're the only one left."

"The others are still alive-"

"Not like they used to be."

"No, they're not," he agreed. "Nobody is."

Raven reached forward and touched his face. "But you're still alive. Even if you've changed a little."

"I've gotten older."

That much was evident. Lines on his face, slight crinkles at the edges of his eyes and mouth, brows furrowed as if in a perpetual scowl. He looked a lot more mature as well. Long face, the innocent youthfulness about his expression gone.

"I could tell."

He looked at her carefully, trying to peer past the cowl of her hood. She mumbled something under her breath and peeled off her hood.

"You... don't look much different. Except for the hair."

"Look closer."

Her skin was smooth as ever, and though her hair was longer, the way it framed her face was much the same as it had ten years ago. There were no wrinkles on her face at all, though there were long lines extending under her eyes. When she frowned a little, the same thoughtful expression on her face seemed as it had ten years ago as well, and every little twitch of her eye and mouth had not changed either.

"You... haven't aged," he said uncertainly after a moment.

"I'm just as mortal as you are," she replied.

Nightwing looked yet closer. There was a darkness about her eyes that had not been there before. Bulges underneath dark lashes, mouth turned down into a permanent frown, seeming more languid, depressed than before. Not just pure moody, but melancholic. Like the sadness had worked itself into her until it was a part of her being - evident in every part of her demeanor. She had aged well, but not well.

"I just look young."

"Actually you look older than I do in some ways."

Raven moved to put her hood back up but then decided against it.

"What have you been up to?"

"There has been nothing to do."

"Except think."

"Yeah. I've been thinking a lot."

Raven frowned deeply, more than she had before. "About me."

Nightwing nodded. "Yes, I have."

"We were friends."

"Were we?"

"I don't know. I... thought about you one day. And I sensed that you needed me. So I came back."

"From where? Where were you?"

Raven shrugged. "I was dead."

"... excuse me?"

"In some ways, I was, I suppose."

"Well you're here now. Alive."

"But it seems like I have come back for nothing. There's nothing left of this world but cold ashes."

"And me."

"And you," she agreed. "You're still here. I always wondered how much you had changed over the years. Physically..." she stood. "You're taller than me now. More muscular." She put a hand on his head. "You think more like I do. You're... unhappier."

"But I understand more."

"You should be the happy one."

He laughed shortly. "Happy to you maybe. To Starfire, I seemed pretty angry. Obsessive and moody and everything."

"Starfire's gone," Raven said softly. "And Cyborg and Beast Boy."

"You don't know that."

She closed her eyes. "I dare not hope."

"Then don't. Pretend that they have changed too much to return to what they once were. But still go see them."

"I... don't think I could face them."

"Why not?"

"It feels like I have abandoned this world. Let it deteriorate into this state. Worsethan when I brought Trigon here. Every day of life, endless torture. Better to kill them all. At least they would feel nothing in death."

"You did nothing like that. It just happened. But you didn't cause it."

"I wasn't here to prevent it."

"I don't think you could have done anything. Why did you even leave to begin with?"

"I did not want to. But I had to."

Nightwing sighed. He was never going to get a straight answer out of her. But that was something he also appreciated about her. It was no good to have a friend who would open up to him too easily. Besides, friends didn't always need to open up to each other. sometimes they could just be there for each other without needing a reason why.

"Thanks," she murmured softly. "But you need me now more than I need you. Although I'm not sure what we can do."

"We'll start by seeing our old team. Once the storm clears up."

Raven put on her hood once more.

* * *

The Tower was still standing but was obviously in disrepair after being abandoned for ten years. Well, not completely abandoned, but one man with aging technology could not maintain it properly at all. The elevator to the common room had broken down long ago, so Raven levitated them both up into the darkened room. Strange, mechanical creatures of some sort of blue circuitry crawled around here and there, staring up at the pair with their red eyes. Raven and Nightwing gave them cursory glances before walking past them.

"Cyborg!" Nightwing called out. "Answer me! I know you're here!"

The door behind them opened and a half robotic man appeared, several wires attached to his back, presumably to plug him into some sort of power supply. The look on his face was cold, unwelcoming at first, though he looked a little surprised when he saw the thin grey figure by Nightwing's side, a shadow in the moonlight. A little happier maybe.

"Nightwing," he greeted his former friend curtly. "And Raven."

"Ten years," she said softly. "And everything has changed so much. You and Nightwing are not on good terms."

"No. We are not."

"My offer still stands, Cyborg. We can still make a difference - as a team."

Cyborg shook his head. "We've discussed this every year. I'm past that now. I'm not a hero. And there's no hope left for this world."

"You don't know that until you try! We never gave up in the past! We've done the impossible before!"

"You say that every time. But look at the people now. Hardly can even be called people any more. World's not the same, we can't just change everyone by getting together as a team. It's impossible."

"It would be a symbol. We can change more peole than you think."

"Nightwing. How can you expect to save everyone if you can't even save one friend - wait... well I guess she came back, didn't she."

"He brought me back."

Cyborg raised an eyebrow.

"By needing me."

Cyborg's eyes widened. "You haven't changed one bit from the old days. Still that resilient never give up type of girl that you always were. I thought-"

"That since I was a pessimist, that I would have given up hope. I guess I have, Cyborg. Maybe there's no such thing as hoping for things to get better, but that doesn't mean that I can't fight. That _we _can't fight. Nightwing hasn't given up yet. Neither have I."

Cyborg closed his eyes. "I'm sorry. I wouldn't be much help to you guys. I'm not charismatic like that anymore. I'm only fit to lead those who still have hope. I can't inspire the hopeless."

Raven and Nightwing looked at each other.

"I won't pressure you."

"Besides, you two are enough by yourselves. Maybe you can do something about this hell of a world."

"I... hardly count as charismatic," Raven said lightly. "I wouldn't be much-"

"Maybe not in the usual sense, but you're more inspirational than you know. Give it a shot. You and Nightwing make a great team."

The two heroes looked at each other. "That's an interesting statement," Nightwing replied.

Cyborg shrugged. "I always wondered why you and Starfire got together. She wasn't your type."

"Neither am I," Raven replied.

Both Cyborg and Nightwing looked at her a bit strangely at first, then expectantly, wanting an explanation. Raven's head bent downward. "Closer than friends. Something closer than lovers. We're together, but not the same way he and Starfire were. Maybe it's because we had that bond, but we had grown closer than people you might call boyfriend and girlfriend. Or even husband and wife."

"What about now?"

Raven shrugged. "I came back just for him. And we're the only two left. If you won't join us."

"I understand. It should be that way."

Nightwing sighed. "Somehow I knew that would be your answer." He paused. "Cyborg, we probably won't be seeing each other again unless something big happens."

"I know. That's the way it should be too."

"Farewell."

"Goodbye."

Raven's hood turned slightly, the sadness in her eyes her own way of departing from him. It was the last time they saw each other.

* * *

Their meeting with Beast Boy had been awkward and short. She had not really wanted to see him and he had not wanted to see her. Mostly, he was afraid of both of them, of being dragged back into a fruitless life and of false hope, not that his was any better. Still, he had tried to be nice to them even if he and Raven weren't on the best of terms. But of course he had not joined them.

So only Starfire was left. Raven said that her teleportation ability was capable of taking them to Tameran, but it was risky and if she didn't aim precisely, they would be thrown into outer space. Besides, she was fearful of Starfire's jealousy. So they decided not to go. In the end, it was really just the two of them.

So they wandered the streets of Jump together, Nightwing looking around at the ruined city, watchful eyes looking for any sign of trouble, with Raven gliding beside him slightly above the ground - he knew that her abilities allowed her to see an image of everything in her immediate vicinity, so there was no need for her to actually turn and look. Though she did several times to look at his face.

There was still one restaurant that he knew of, well, more of a cafe than anything, but he took her there the next day and ordered her some tea, better than the old tea he had left in his hideout. The owner of the place, a young woman with long, golden hair, was kind enough to them, though she too seemed to lack the vivacity that should have been in a youth like herself. But then again, the mere fact that she had opened a cafe at all was impressive, considering the times.

"Her tea is good," Raven commented quietly. "Though she adds a bit too much sugar."

Nightwing shrugged. "It's not like there's anywhere else you can get anything. Hungry?"

"No." Her stomach rumbled immediately after and she blushed a little.

He raised an eyebrow.

Raven sighed. "I have no money."

"I will pay for you-"

"I don't want to be a burden. I didn't come back just so that-"

"Raven. I'm paying for you," he said rather firmly. "Don't feel bad about it."

"If you say so."

They had a bit of warm soup and left to wander the city again. They came across the old park and sat down on one of the benches next to each other, taking in their surroundings.

Everything had been dead for a long time. Flowers no longer bloomed, trees no longer had leaves, the grass was perpetually yellow and wilted - it seemed that the ground no longer had enough life in it to support any growth.

He couldn't tell what she was thinking. He knew that every time he looked at the dead vegetation, he felt hollow inside. Despair, desolation, it was like a blight upon the world. Better to look at the unforgiving grey of asphalt and cold steel than the grey of dead life.

"Let's go," she said softly. "I hate this place too."

* * *

On top of the buildings, they could see the whole city before them. Though it was night, there seemed to be nobody wandering the streets, no thieves, no muggers, nothing at all. That might have been the case if it was storming but it was actually rather peaceful, with only a slow curtain of snow falling from the sky. The moon was a perfect crescent, gleaming brightly against the duller grey background, casting its pure white light onto Raven's grey hood. He sensed that she loved it but it made her distraught at the same time, only she could not tear her eyes away from it whether she wanted to or not.

It was funny how the moon could still shine so brightly when everything else seemed so dark. Not that darkness was a bad thing, no, they both were creatures of the night, thriving in the absence of light, attuned with all manner of shadow and shade. But there had to be a balance. A mixture of pure light and pure dark.

Lately it seemed that there was only the twilight, nothing bright to speak of, all eclipsed, obscured, shrouded by a curtain of deathly torpor. Well, except for the moon. Pristine radiance. It was there, it should have felt right, but of course it didn't. The effulgence was like hope, or at least it was supposed to be, but what hope was there to speak of?

She had never been really the hopeful type anyway, and though that did not mean that she had given up, it also meant that she did not expect to succeed or expect things to improve. But that way there was nothing to lose.

Staring at the moon, however, there was that feeling of things to lose. That things could get worse. So while it felt good and right to hope for improvement, it meant loss as well.

Nightwing touched her on the shoulder lightly. "Shall we go somewhere else?"

She nodded and they disappeared again.

* * *

The shore had been her favorite spot, especially at night, and though he had seen her sitting there many times, he had never joined her. Ironic how, now, he was there with her, but she seemed very unhappy, looking out at the grey waves, rocking back at forth, as enervated as the whole world seemed to be.

She dipped her feet into the water - he only noticed now that she had been going barefoot - and then pulled out after a moment, frowning. Too cold. Was it even possible that the water had gotten so cold without freezing?

And the night's cloak was no longer comforting as it had once been. No longer placid, no longer just quiet, but like the silenced, tormented voices that did not even know that they were in pain.

"Everything sucks," she murmured.

"I know."

"We have to try to do something about it. Give people hope. Just... How?"

"I don't know. We'll find a way."

"But how did it even come to this? It's not like we can point out a few people who are absurdly rich and say they've been stealing from everyone else. It seems like _everyone _is poor."

"This country... most countries are. There was... an incident a while back. Nuclear war."

Raven gasped. "So... that means-"

"Many people died. Rest of us are left in a nuclear winter. All the stuff in the atmosphere's blocking out the sun for the most part. And the radiation killed everything in the ground. People are starving. And even with a reduced population, there's not enough food for even a third of the people left. There's not much we can do about it."

"But it's over now. No more war."

Nightwing nodded. "No more nukes left. Only a few big bombs left and they're all kept near Gotham in a military base under heavy surveillance. Not that anyone really has the energy to go use them. People lost faith that Earth would recover. Eight years and still nothing has grown at all, except by the efforts of a few Justice Leaguers."

"They're providing food and stuff for everyone in the world?"

"Yeah. But even if they're extraordinary, their super powers are limited. There's just not enough."

Raven was silent for a long while. Nightwing put his hand over hers and was shocked at how cold her skin was, cold as the snow and ice around him, frozen like the passions of all those people that he still fought to protect. Surprisingly, she let him touch her - before, she would have always moved away, fearing contact with anyone else. But now she even touched him, just a hand on his shoulder, but still nevertheless it was physical contact with her.

"Dawn approaches," she breathed out.

"It's hard to tell nowadays. Too much stuff in the atmosphere."

"I can sense it. It makes me..."

"A bit uncomfortable?"

She nodded. "But it also feels like new life. This world needs its light and warmth to survive as well. Not just darkness."

Nightwing sighed. "But what it needs is not what it gets."

Raven was silent again. And then after a few moments, she suddenly stood, strength radiating from her, her resolve hardened. "We'll see about that."

Gathering her energy, she blasted an enormous beam of black energy into the sky, extending up for miles, tens of miles, hundreds, into the clouded atmosphere, where her power spread out slightly, clearing away the debris suspended in the clouds, sending it off into space, where it began drifting away. She began to struggle visibly to keep up the outflow of energy, trying to continue to remove all the waste in the sky that was diffusing across the hole she had made. Sweat poured down her face and she staggered, about to fall, but then Nightwing put his hands on her shoulders and supported her body.

"Raven, be careful," he said quietly.

Raven gritted her teeth and continued pouring out the energy from her body. From the gap in the clouds that she had created, sunlight shone through, if only a thin beam of it. But it was still pure, unsoiled sunlight.

Closing her eyes, Raven's entire body began to tremble and she fell to one knee, energy flowing out from her in vast torrents.

"Raven, that's enough. You can't keep this up."

"I can," her voice was tense, strained.

"Raven-"

"Quiet, I can't concentrate."

Nightwing fell silent as she rose back up to stand once more, although she wobbled back and forth as she aimed her powers into the heavens. The sunlight grew brighter and the once thin beam of it grew into a large circular area on the ground, illuminating the old Titans' Tower. And at last, Raven fell back, exhausted. Nightwing moved forward and let her sink into his arms, cushioning her fall. She lay back on the ground, breathing rapidly. Overhead, the circle of sunlight began to close as the dust clouding the sky began to cover the hole she had made. Raven closed her eyes in frustration.

"It's... impossible. The atmosphere's just too big. A hundred of me wouldn't even be enough to do clear all that shit away."

Nightwing sighed. "So I guess we give up on that?"

"No. Never give up. Even if it's impossible. Isn't that what you said?"

"I did, but you'll get hurt-"

"That doesn't matter anymore. I _will _do this."

Raven stood back up and the flood of black power began again. As it pushed up into the sky, it spread out into a huge cylinder shape, nearly the size of the city itself. Nightwing turned around, looking back at the grey buildings, where people had begun to emerge, looks of awe on their faces. And maybe, he dared to think, hope.

Although he sensed that Raven was afraid of giving them false hope. She didn't want to just maybe be able to return sunlight to the world, or even to just the city, but then fail. And leave them more despondent than before.

To them, she must have appeared to be some sort of goddess, come to save the world from the pit of despair it had become, but in the end, her powers were limited. She fell back again, and the sunlight faded as the clouds covered the sky once more. And as they realized that she couldn't save their world, return things to the way they once were, the people began looking away, seeming as lifeless, hopeless as they were before. Only, Raven could sense the deep agony that she had aroused in them, the torment that she had dug up from deep within them because of the sight of sunlight.

She pounded her fist on the ground, and blinked back tears. Biting her lip, she rose once more. And again her powers flowed forth.

"Never give up," she whispered.

She continued until she passed out where she stood, and even then she still remained there for yet a few more moments before her body gave out. Nightwing caught her before she fell, looking gently into her face.

"You did well."

She didn't respond so he looked up, where the sunlight had begun to fade again. But he thought that maybe the sky was a little bit brighter than it was before.

* * *

They returned to the cafe after she had woken up. There still weren't many people on the streets, even though it was noon, but those that did see the pair all turned to look at Raven, with mixed expressions of astonishment, thanks, grief, or anger on their faces. So many different emotions entering her mind. Some believed she could save them. Others believed she had failed them. Either way, she was too exhausted to deal with their feelings at the moment. Nightwing had to carry her into the building, where the young woman who ran the shop emerged from a back room after a moment.

"I saw what you did," she said softly.

Nightwing set Raven down on a chair. The violet haired woman opened her mouth to try to speak, but no matter how her throat struggled, no words would come out.

"It's fine, relax," the other woman said. "I just hope that you know what you're doing. It would really suck if this made nothing better."

Nightwing looked at Raven worriedly - she had never responded well to having failure shoved in her face, and it didn't seem very different this time. Raven knew that the woman was only expressing her fears, but she also knew that those fears could very well be true. She might not have the power to fix anything. Then what? Then she would have failed all of humanity. But she still had to try.

But it did seem like the young woman appreciated their efforts, or maybe she was feeling a bit more upbeat after that short exposure to sunlight because the food tasted better than it had before and she brought out extra tea for Raven free of charge.

"I was only eight when I last saw you, I think," the woman pulled up a chair and sat next to Raven. "You saved my life."

Raven studied her closely. "Amanda Fowler," she said slowly. "I saved you from Plasmus that one time."

"I'm surprised you remember me. You must have saved many people in the past."

Raven shifted uncomfortably. In truth, she remembered that day mostly because it had been the one where Beast Boy had gotten hurt because she had failed to cover him because she had to save the little girl. And he had blamed her for it, which was not unmerited, but what was she going to do. Let Plasmus eat an eight year old in front of her eyes?

But yes, she remembered many of the incidents that had led to the breaking apart of the Titans' friendship. Well, not completely broken apart yet. She and Nightwing still were close.

"You seem preoccupied," Nightwing commented, staring at Raven's eyes.

Raven looked back at him. She looked to her side, but found that Amanda had already left.

"She said that she would leave us two alone. Something about couples liking their privacy."

"I don't think we qualify as a couple."

Nightwing shrugged. "That doesn't matter at this point. We're just two people who have a mission. Other stuff comes later."

Raven nodded, though he thought that she seemed disappointed.

* * *

She continued clearing the skies for three weeks, each time working herself past the point of exhaustion. He honestly wasn't sure how Raven did it. Her stamina was incredible. And eventually, one day, as she took a break from her work, the hole that she made above the city did not close, and the sunlight remained. Just a tiny beam of it, shining down onto her, encircling her in a circle of light, but it was there.

They both stared at it in shock, as if not expecting that it would actually be there or stay. Wordlessly, Raven touched Nightwing's shoulder and they left, returning to the little restaurant where Amanda served them some tea. When they got back, it was still there.

"Success?" Raven breathed out. "Or just a fluke?"

"I don't know. It could be that you cleared enough of the stuff in the atmosphere away that it's stopped diffusing due to wind currents. Or it's also possible that a powerful upward air draft might have maintained the opening, or it might even be that-"

Raven held a hand up. "Either way we don't know. Have to keep working."

By the time she fainted again, the circle had widened enough to cover maybe an area large enough for a small garden.

"Not just a fluke, Raven," Nightwing murmured down at her. "You're amazing."

* * *

By the time another week had passed, the whole city was cleared. Well, not completely cleared - it might have been a heavily polluted city of the past, with smog and air pollutants, but the sun could clearly be seen in the sky when it rose over the horizon. Just one city, just one tiny part of the atmosphere, but she had succeeded.

"To an extent."

"Raven, maybe you should relax and take pride in your - " Nightwing shook his head. "Never mind."

"You know it as well as I do. No rest until the job is done."

"I know. I was just worried about your health."

The dark shadows on Raven's face had become much more pronounced in the past few days - probably from overexerting her powers, straining her body to its limit. Nightwing took care of her the best he could, helping her fight through her tempestuous emotional state, through anger and despair. He had found her one day in the bathroom, wearing nothing but grey panties, clutching her bleeding wrist.

She turned slightly as he approached, eyes dark, perturbed. He didn't say a word. There was no need to ask why.

He put a towel around her shoulders and bandaged her wrist. And then she had hugged him tightly, barely keeping herself from crying, sinking to the ground with him until they were both kneeling. And then she had pushed him down on the ground and looked at him, eyes completely shadowed by curtains of violaceous hair.

"I need you," she said.

"I'm here."

She shook her head. "I _need _you."

Nightwing nodded. "I understand. You'll be okay with this later?"

"It's not a spur of the moment thing. I won't regret it. Hopefully you won't either."

"Just the opposite."

She gave him a tiny smile, the first one he had seen from her in more than ten years.

* * *

One day, as the two of them were looking up at the sky, several flying figures came into sight. Raven got visibly paler but she stayed where she was, motionless. As they got closer, Nightwould could see who they were - Superman, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, and Wonder Woman.

He looked at Raven quizzically.

She sighed. "I guess I have to explain now. The League asked me to leave this dimension ten years ago. That's why I did."

Nightwing's brows furrowed. Raven sensed his anger building up - it was only natural, she supposed.

"Wait. Before you say anything, let me finish explaining. You know how my powers are controlled by emotion, right?"

"Yeah..."

"So when you guys were all angry at each other and stuff, it was affecting me. Apparently they found out after my powers began going haywire and affecting things in the upper atmosphere like the Watchtower."

"So they figured out what was going on in the tower."

"Yeah. You also remember that time Starfire went into the future to get back that thing from Warp?"

"Yep. She told the League about it too after she got back. They did some digging into it and found out some stuff about that alternate reality."

Raven nodded. "They found out that I had gone insane and caused a lot of damage to the city and the surrounding area. They were afraid that was going to happen. So they asked me to either leave or go under quarantine in the Watchtower. I chose to leave."

Nightwing sighed. "I'm still... not really upset or shocked, but... disappointed? I didn't want you to leave. Even if it was for everyone else's good."

"Well. I didn't want to hurt anyone because I got out of control. Least of all you."

Raven looked up as the superheroes landed. "And I didn't want to upset them either," she said quietly so that they wouldn't hear her.

Superman walked forward first, as usual. He looked at her carefully, the little, slight girl that drifted slightly off the ground. She didn't seem very dangerous if you just looked at her or if you even fought her - but that was because she was holding back most of the time to prevent her powers from causing excessive damage. He did, however, know that if provoked, she was probably stronger than him. Not that she seemed to be in the mood to fight.

"You came back," he said blankly.

"I did," Raven replied.

"Will everything be okay?"

Raven shrugged. "It's not like there's anything for my powers to destroy. This world is practically dead already. I'm just trying to bring it back to life."

Superman rubbed his head. "That's true."

Green Lantern moved the man out of the way. "I'll get straight to the point. We want to know if your powers are going to get out of control. There's a lot of pain floating around in the air - as an empath, I'm sure you sense it. Even Martian Manhunter can barely handle it."

"I will be okay. I have been fine so far."

"Seems like it," Wonder Woman said from behind the other superheroes. She was looking up at the sky, where sunlight was streaming down from gaps in the clouds. "You've done good work here."

Raven shrugged. "Only a tiny part of the atmosphere. At this rate it'll still take years and years for me to clear the sky alone."

"It gives people hope," Superman replied. "That maybe the world will improve." He paused. "Welcome back."

"Thanks."

"Oh, Nightwing," Hawkgirl spoke up suddenly. She had been holding a phone to her ear, evidently speaking with someone. "There's someone who wants to speak to you. And Raven." She turned to the rest of the Justice Leaguers. "Privately."

The message was understood and they took off, leaving the two superheroes behind.

A couple moments later, someone tapped Nightwing on the shoulder. He turned in surprise - the guy had snuck up behind him and he had completely not noticed him. Who could it be- Oh.

"Bruce."

Batman raised an eyebrow.

"It's fine, she knows your identity already. She's been inside my head before. Long story."

"I see." He looked up at the sky. "Your doing?" He addressed Raven.

She nodded.

His eyes widened a fraction. _Good job, _he seemed to say.

She bent her head downward. _Thank you. But there's still a lot to do. _

He nodded as well. _There always is. __  
_

Batman turned back to Nightwing. "I wanted to check up on you two. Seems like things are finally looking a bit better in Jump."

"A bit. People seem a bit livelier now, even though nothing has changed much. How are things in Gotham."

"The same as always. Same as everywhere else, really. Everyone seems to be dead."

"But there's no more crime, is there?"

"Not in most places. But Gotham is Gotham. Couple people still active. Joker and Mr. Freeze. Joker, just for the heck of it I guess, and Mr. Freeze because he never really had many emotions left anyway. He likes the new climate change."

"Figures. Need any help?"

"No."

Raven shook her head. _Actually, he wouldn't mind if we paid a visit to Gotham. He secretly wants me to remove the smoke over his city too. _She projected her thoughts out to Nightwing, who nodded.

"We'll be in touch."

Batman looked back and forth between them suspiciously. "You two are coming."

It was their turn to look at each other. Nightwing shrugged - Batman had always had a way of reading people's thoughts without being a telepath. "I guess we are."

"Fine," he grumbled. "But you realize that sunlight will just give all the old criminals hope and they'll begin running around again."

"Better than the way things are now."

Batman grunted. Even he couldn't disagree with that. "Very well. Need a lift? Or you coming later?"

They looked at each other again. "We'll just go now."

* * *

Four weeks spent in Gotham. Unlike in Jump, however, there were those in Gotham that did not react so positively to Raven's trying to bring sunlight back. People were afraid of her, or maybe fearful that she would fail, or maybe they thought that she might actually inadvertently make things worse, but in any case, change was something they were terrified of.

She had been attacked a few times, but she was Raven after all, and it wasn't really hard to deal with a few ordinary people who were merely a little upset at her.

The Joker was another matter, however. Usually Batman took care of him by himself, but sometimes he also got himself caught and Raven and Nightwing had to go help him.

Raven's shields were indeed powerful, but not completely immune to everything, as they had found out. Bullets exerted enormous pressure, especially those armor piercing ones with sharp tips - all that force onto a single point and even she could not hold them. When Nightwing had gotten careless, he paid the price and got shot, and though the bullet only lodged itself in his arm, it had shown him the limits of Raven's abilities and his own overestimation of his.

It also showed how much she cared about him. To a passive bystander, it might not have appeared like that much, her drifting quickly over to him and a blue glow enveloping her hand. But he had a bond with her, and from a person who had hidden her emotions from him - everyone - for years and years, it was a shock to feel exactly how much she felt. The barrier she had put up to block his entry into her mind had fallen completely and he had been overwhelmed by her panic, confusion, fear - if he didn't know better, he would've thought that she thought the world was ending. Looking at her, he saw how pale her face was even before healing him - when she shared his pain to cure the wound - or the twitching in her mouth and eyes, tears forming. But she blinked them away and was completely stoic again after a moment, save for the unnatural whiteness of her face. _  
_

He promised himself that he would never do anything stupid again so that she would not have to worry about him.

But then again, she was guilty of worrying him as well. When the Joker had set up several bombs in the middle of the city and Batman had left them to deal with them while he pursued the Joker, they had been unable to deactivate them, and Raven had had to contain the explosion. Except, she couldn't do it completely so she ended up getting blasted back by several megatons of force. Luckily she was half demon or she would've been blown to bits, but she didn't escape unscathed at all. Burned badly in several places, cloak in tatters, leotard singed off, she landed in his arms, nearly unconscious.

Even Batman had looked a little worried when he carried her into the Batcave, although she ended up being just fine. A bit of scarring here and there, but that was the life of a superhero.

But those incidents were rare, as even the Joker had a hard time finding enough resources to cause trouble. So while it took a little longer than it did in Jump, Raven cleaned up the skies of Gotham and the sun began shining once more.

* * *

"People dare to hope again."

Raven shrugged. "All it takes is a little bit of change. Humans are such creatures though. They have to hope for the better, or else they cannot progress. And as physically and psychically weak creatures, if they don't progress, they die out."

"I suppose demons are different?"

Raven nodded. "Demons live in hell. They wallow in misery all their lives, for all eternity. But they have a strength that humans do not. They can handle it. They always keep fighting. Although they are twisted in their own ways."

"I suppose you don't agree with the demon ways completely."

"No, I don't. You wouldn't either. Some of the things they do are just... gruesome. But there is merit to accepting my demonic side."

"Beyond just keeping it under control?"

"Well, I wouldn't call it controlling it anymore. We're on pretty good terms, my demon and I. Here, watch."

Raven closed her eyes and was silent for a moment. And then four red eyes opened from underneath her hood. The hand that reached up had a reddish hue to its normally grey skin and her fingernails had lengthened into sharp, black claws. She pulled off her hood and revealed the four, smaller crimson eyes in place of the two large violet ones, a mouth full of jagged teeth, and long, flowing, white hair.

"That's... interesting."

Demon Raven smirked at him. "Some of the 'merits' of accepting her demonic side are gaining all of my powers too. Although, I'll admit that I am no stronger than she is."

"Oh? I always seem to remember that when you came out before, Raven became a lot more powerful, and a lot scarier."

"I have more brute force. She possesses more intricate abilities. But regardless, that is not the only thing she meant. You do not exactly think like a normal human does, do you?"

"I don't think any super hero does."

"But even for a super hero, you are unique. More attuned to the darkness. Appreciating both sides of the world, life, means you can understand more about it as well. When demon and human views coincide, it makes for a unique philosophy."

"It helps her understand her own depression, is what you mean."

"That too."

"I only want her to be happy."

"Never going to happen. Not a person who can be happy."

"Why?"

Demon Raven scowled. "Maybe because she is part demon. Neither of us is ever happy. No demon is."

"But she is part human as well."

"Then maybe because she understands the demon world too well. Being miserable."

"She also understands the human world very well. Happiness is an integral part of the human psyche."

"Then-" The demon features suddenly faded and she was back to her normal self. "Because," she whispered, and paused. "It's complicated. You know how I used to think that there was nothing good to life for and that I was just a blight on the world, right?"

"Yeah, but you're not. You never were."

Raven shrugged. "I thought that killing myself would be better for everyone, including me. But first I had to redeem myself by stopping my father. After that, I could just let go. But I couldn't."

"Were you happy after you defeated Trigon?"

"I... don't know. Maybe. But not because I stopped him."

Nightwing thought for a moment. "Because you had found friends who actually cared about you."

"Just one, actually."

"Me?"

Raven nodded slowly. "You brought me out from the very pits of hell and made me hope that things could get better. Nobody's ever done anything for me at all, let alone risk their life for me. I could feel it. You were fully willing to die if I could live."

"Yes. There was no way I could let you go like that. Not the way you were then, not the way you are now."

Raven smiled slightly. "So I was actually happy for a while. Even if you were with Starfire, at least you could be my friend. Someone who could be there if I needed you. But then it dawned on me. The terrible fate that is my own mortality. And your mortality as well. We're doomed to die, Richard."

"I know that. I just prefer not to think about it."

Raven nodded. "I'm sorry if I'm bringing this up. It must be uncomfortable for you too."

"It's fine. Just talk."

The violet haired woman raised her hood and turned away. "I thought that there was finally, _finally, _something worth living for. I began to see how beautiful everything was, how much there was to explore in the world, how much there was to find out and cherish. Like the one dear friend I had. And then I realized, my time is limited. Our lives are short - there is barely enough time to find out who I, myself, am, and who you are, let alone experience just how amazing this world is. I want to live through the ages and have the feelings of all of mankind flow through me, know what the Earth will be like, how it changes through the centuries. And I want to hold you close to me forever. But I'm only mortal. And you're only mortal. There's no time for anything. In the end, we're going to be torn apart, if not soon, then yet sooner."

Nightwing closed his eyes. "I've thought about that too. I've dealt with it by ignoring it. Living in the present, not thinking about what the future holds."

Raven turned back toward him sharply and suddenly he felt a rush of emotion surge through him. Her eyes burned with an impassioned flame and she clutched her chest so tightly that she began to draw blood.

"I've tried," her voice was tight, distraught. "I've tried so hard, but it's still there. It's not just a burning pain in my heart anymore. It's consumed me completely. Not a moment goes by that I don't think 'life is worth living, but it will be over in the blink of an eye'. What's the point of it all if we're just going to die? If I can be happy at all, that happiness will still be cut short when either of us is gone! So why bother? I'd rather be miserable, plunged in the depths of the deepest valley, than to know the brightest mountain peak, euphoria, then come crashing down when death comes knocking on my door. Every day, I am afraid. Of loss...o-of... losing..." Her voice trailed off and she shuddered, trying to restrain her emotions.

Nightwing was silent. What could he say? How could he comfort her?

In truth, now that she had brought it up, yes, he felt the same way. How could he ever be happy if he knew that he was just going to lose her in the short span of a mortal life? Why bother to care for her? But he knew that she was inexplicably bound to do so, just as he was bound to care for her, and despite their best efforts to kill their emotions, neither of them had succeeded. So there they were. Two people, two mortal beings, desperately bound to one another, desperately trying to break apart for fear of their parting at the cold touch of death, torment because of the knowledge that they could not last together. Yet still immutably attached to one another.

What could either of them say? Nothing.

What could either of them do?

Nightwing hugged her close and she hugged him back. Somehow, that only made things worse.

* * *

"Raven! Nightwing!" Batman shouted from the Batcave and the two of them arrived quickly through one of Raven's portals.

He gestured to a large screen, where Mr. Freeze was speaking. He was standing in front of a military installation, presumably outside of Gotham, the one that Nightwing recognized as the residence of the remainder of the U.S. high powered explosives.

"... there is no hope left for humanity." As always, his voice was cold, toneless. A monotone not too unlike Raven's. "... there is nothing you can do. We will all die when this facility explodes. Nothing can stop me. You will have one hour to live. Then the time of reckoning will come."

"We have to stop him."

"Do you even need to say that? I'm sure you know the implications of those things blowing up."

"The question is, is he really going to blow us all up along with himself?"

The three heroes looked at each other.

Batman frowned. "It's possible. Raven, you haven't been here so you don't know, but Nightwing does. People have lost hope for a very long time. And some people like him just don't want that hope back. It would be a burden."

"But not everyone feels that way-"

"It doesn't matter to him. In the end, sacrifices have to be made to get what you want. At least, that is the way they think."

"It's true for us too. Many people, many things are sacrificed in the name of justice. We cannot save everyone. We must sometimes let people die, sometimes one of our own, in order to serve the greater good."

"In his case, the greater good is killing everyone. He believes he is doing us justice in his own way."

"Everyone's justice is different. We cannot simply let him carry out what he believes. It would go against what many others do."

"So there is no question about it. We have to stop him."

"There was no question about that to begin with," Batman grumbled. He typed in a few commands on the keyboard and a map appeared on the screen. A flashing dot pinpointed the location of the military base. "Raven, can you take us there?"

She closed her eyes and searched for it inside her mind. After a moment, she created a portal and gestured for them to step into it.

* * *

They reappeared outside of the building and began scanning the area. After a moment, Batman gave both of them a signal, apparently satisfied that there was nothing for them outside, and Raven teleported them inside.

"I hacked into the government's database and found this plan of the building. Apparently most of the really big bombs are being kept in a bunker deep underground, but there are plenty of others in a bunch of rooms around the plant. I'll bet that Freeze has rigged it so that they'll go off simultaneously to release the most energy at once. We'll have to find the wire that connects all of his bombs and cut it if we want to stop him."

"A good deduction, Batman," Mr. Freeze appeared in the doorway on the other side of the room. "But you cannot stop me."

He raised his frost gun and shot at them, but Raven blocked it with a shield of dark energy.

"You two keep him busy, I'll look for the wire," Batman spoke rapidly as he darted out from behind the shield and past the villain, who turned instantly to shoot at him.

Raven raised another shield and blocked Mr. Freeze off and Batman disappeared into the building.

The villain stepped forward and looked at Raven carefully. "You are that demon girl that was spotted fighting the Joker."

"So you should know that you're outmatched," Nightwing replied smoothly. "Give it up. You can't beat us."

"I do not need to beat you. All I must do is stall."

"Batman won't take an hour to find-"

Suddenly, a loud explosion rocked the building and a freezing wind blew out from behind the man in the mechanical suit.

"Booby traps," Nightwing hissed.

"Let us see how your Batman deals with them. In the mean time, I shall see what you two are capable of."

Raven's eyes glowed red from underneath her hood. _"We don't have time for this," _she hissed at him. Raising her arms, a huge wave a dark energy blasted forth and slammed him against the wall.

Mr. Freeze grunted and broke free after a moment, dodging aside and firing his freeze gun at Raven. Nightwing covered her, throwing a few exploding discs to trigger the shot early and moved forward to engage the man in hand to hand combat. But the suit increased his strength threefold, and Nightwing had no way of standing up against someone he could not even hurt. A powerful blow sent him flying back and Raven caught him with her dark energy before sending random objects from around the room flying at the villain. Mr. Freeze shrugged them off and fired another bolt of frost at her, which she blocked, and then quickly countered with her powers. She slammed him against the wall again, and as he fell, she sent another beam of power toward him. This time, he let go of his gun, slumping down toward the ground. And again, and his suit began to break.

Grinding her teeth furiously, she blasted him over and over, the glass covering his head shattering, the suit itself breaking in several places, nearly tearing his body apart.

Nightwing looked at her, eyes wide, only now remembering how violent she could be. How, when infuriated, she could kill without second thought, how even when not angered, she still could kill people that she thought deserved it. Did Freeze deserve it though?

Perhaps deserve was not the right word. It was never a matter of what one deserved. Nobody got what they deserved. Freeze had not deserved to have his experiments halted, or his wife killed because of a greedy CEO who thought only of himself, or tormented by the fact that he thought that he failed her. By that standard, he deserved to be saved, not destroyed. Or at least he deserved not to have that happen to him. But then again, now he was only a cold hearted murderer, bent on killing millions of people. Maybe he did deserve being destroyed, maybe he didn't, but if she let him go he would undoubtedly continue his rampage. Action was very important in judgment, and while thought and emotion might have preceded action, it also might not have. People didn't always think about what they were doing. Actions were not a good measure of what one deserved, but they were a good measure of how one was to be judged. If he were to continue killing, then he should be stopped. And it was likely that he would. So she would stop him here.

Except, Nightwing put a hand on her shoulder. "Enough Rae. You don't need to go that far."

She looked at him in surprise. "He's a monster. Even if he's been made that way by other people, he has to be stopped." Her eyes narrowed. "You're not going to tell me not to dirty my hands by killing him, are you? I've done it before, and I don't mind doing it again."

Nightwing shook his head. "That's not why. It's not about what he deserves either. Just let him go."

"Then what is it?" She continued clutching him with a claw of dark power. "If we don't get rid of him more people will just die. And he's obviously not going to get 'rehabilitated' by psychotherapy. He has to be stopped now."

"I know. But Batman wouldn't approve. We should abide by his rules in his city. The least we can do is respect his wishes."

Raven looked at the fallen figure of Mr. Freeze. And back at Nightwing. Then back once more. Should she have respected what Batman wanted? He was right on a lot of things, like how superheroes were normally above the law and how they were not supposed to 'pass judgment' because it was not their place to, as people already operating outside of societal standards. But then again, supervillains fell in the same class that they did. Was it so wrong to determine the fate of those who did not abide by the law anyway?

Besides, the rules set by the government had proven to be ineffective in many cases. There was no reason why someone who could kill millions of people should continue to live because that person was a threat to everyone else. It wasn't just about right and wrong according to the law, it was about right and wrong according to morals. A man willing to take many lives to get his viewpoint across should have his life taken. At least, that felt morally right. Why was his life worth more than anyone else's? A life for a life.

But then again, no matter what she believed, she also respected Batman for his unwavering discipline and moral character. No, he did not believe it was wrong to take a life, but he also believed that if society was willing to bear the threat of a super villain killing many people, then so be it. It was not for him to determine what everyone else wanted. Maybe _they _believed that Mr. Freeze could be saved, even though he really could not. Or maybe they just believed that it was wrong to kill him.

Of course, killing him would just put him out of his misery, so maybe they also wanted to torment him by keeping him alive. Whatever the reason, the people seemed to want him living, not dead, so he would not try to force his own viewpoint on them. Of course it led to more deaths, but...

Raven sighed. "As you wish." She let go of him.

"Big mistake," the villain spoke, although his voice seemed muffled, as if he had difficulty speaking.

Raven's eyes widened and she sent out bolts of dark energy to restrain him but it was too late. He had already drawn something out from within his suit and pushed the button on it.

"Always have an ace in the hole," and then he slumped over, unconscious.

Raven and Nightwing exchanged a worried look. There was no question about what that thing was.

"We have to get out of here. Can you get Batman-"

"Here already," the dark knight spoke as he entered the room. He gave a cursory glance at Mr. Freeze and picked the villain up, hoisting him over one shoulder. "Raven, get us out of here."

* * *

They reappeared outside of the building, maybe a mile away, and Batman set Mr. Freeze down before speaking.

"We've got about a minute before those things blow," he said quietly, as if he knew that it was the end for them. "I didn't imagine that he'd go so far..."

"Isn't there any way we can stop it?" Nightwing muttered. "Or do we all die here?"

"If it comes down to it, Raven can teleport us away. But everyone in Gotham will die. Millions of people-"

"We can't let that happen," Raven replied. "We have to do something."

"Do what? It's not like you can teleport the whole city away. And it's not like you can shield such a huge explosion. Nobody except Superman would be able to withstand such a thing and even he wouldn't be able to block it in anyway."

"So this is where we just give up?"

It was a harsh way to look at it, but it seemed like they were.

"Save our sorry asses and let all those people die? Those people who were just beginning to hope that we could actually save the world, restore the Earth to what it once was?"

Another painful reminder of how terrible the concept of hope could be.

Nightwing and Batman were both silent.

Raven closed her eyes, brows knitted together, seeming to struggle with herself. "There has to be a way."

"Would you rather get out of here or go down with everyone else?"

The violet haired woman shook her head, waiting a second before replying. "Sometimes, sacrifices have to be made. Neither, Nightwing. Neither of those is going to happen."

"Sacrifice - No! Raven!"

He screamed at her as she disappeared into a portal and tried to follow her, but Batman held him back. He wheeled around, eyes blazing in fury, but the voice that suddenly appeared inside his head calmed him slightly.

_Richard. You there? _

He struggled with himself for a moment before replying. _Why?_

_I don't know. Redemption maybe. Mostly, just tired of living in this fruitless existence. Please forgive me, Richard. _

_It feels like you are abandoning me all over again-_

_I am. I'm so sorry. _He suddenly had an image of her crying. That was something new. Raven _never _cried. _But it has to be done, _she closed her eyes and the tears were gone. _Farewell. If there is another life past this one, I hope we meet there. If not... _

There was a huge explosion in the distance, but a massive surge of black power contained the blast somewhat, although Nightwing could still feel the heat of the expanding gases on his face. A large mushroom cloud rose over where the building had once been, but the city behind the two heroes was completely safe.

Nightwing ran forward and Batman followed behind, but then stopped, wanting to leave the younger man his privacy.

By the time Nightwing got to the explosion site, there was nothing left but the tattered remains of Raven's grey cloak.

Up in the sky, a black Raven flew off into the distance.

_Gone forever._


	14. Raven and Slade Part I

Disclaimer: I don't own TT

Split into two parts, because... well, why not.

"Speech"

_Thoughts _

* * *

**Raven and Slade Part I**

She didn't know how she ended up here, half delirious and alone, but she did know that she was in deep shit. Closing her eyes, she tried in vain to remember what happened during the past few ours, but it was no more than a blur. She had gone out with a certain pink haired friend of hers, stayed a little too long at the bar - which her friend had somehow talked her into going to - and then she must have been drugged or something because after that she had no clue what happened. No, she didn't get drunk - she only had like what, a few drinks, right? Someone must have been there and done something.

She remembered feeling this sense of terror well up inside her, a fear so great that she had only felt something like it once before - when she knew that her father was coming to destroy the world and everything she held dear was at stake. What could have caused it?

She also remembered her pink haired friend screaming after her, telling her not to go, not to run, that it would be alright, that there was nothing to be afraid of, but Raven had run anyway, and now she was God knew where.

_A sewer, judging by the smell. _She grimaced.

Raven sat up, rubbing her head, trying to ignore the pain that was beginning to build up between her temples.

_I'm still here, you know. _

She nearly jumped up in shock and began running again, choking down the fear burning at her heart. _That voice... it's-_

She tripped - why was she even running anyway, couldn't she levitate? oh well - and fell into a stream of disgusting green liquid.

_Ew. Gross. _She pulled herself out and grimaced as she tried to pull some pieces of... she didn't want to think about it... out of her hair.

"I said I was still here. Have you already forgotten?"

Suddenly, when he actually spoke, it seemed less frightening. She had never noticed how calm his voice seemed, at least not until now. And it was strange, because when he walked forward, he didn't seem threatening at all. Maybe they were just biased against him or something - but then she remembered the things that he had threatened and that he had done, to her, to all of them, and she was on the defensive again.

"What do you want?"

"I think the better question is, what do _you _want? Why were you running like a maniac down the street from nothing? And then you run here, into the sewers of all places, and when I try to speak to you, you scream and begin running again."

"Is that really what happened?"

He shrugged. "You seemed drunk. I don't ever recall seeing you like that. You didn't seem like type, not whenever we fought, or when I was under your fa-"

Raven hissed darkly. "Leave me alone. I'm getting out of here."

She took a couple steps away before the pain in her head seemed to explode - she was no longer distracted by the presence of _that _guy - and she collapsed against one wall, trying not to let it overcome her.

"It's called a hangover. What was in those drinks?"

"Whatever you drugged me with-"

"And why would I want to do that?"

"To capture me and hold me hostage for something."

He laughed curtly. "Dear Raven, I don't think I have the strength to fight you, even in your condition. You have already shown that you are stronger than I am."

"Then you have a trick up your sleeve. Something to stop my powers-"

"Like what, the Ring of Azar that your friends smashed? Your powers stem from your father, and I doubt anything I have can stop them. You're free to leave if you want."

"Then I'm going."

And she took another step, then sunk lower towards the ground, holding her head. She waited for a few seconds for it to clear, but it only got worse and she fell to her knees, clutching her head.

"I thought you were going," he said smugly.

"Go to hell," she muttered back.

"I've already been there," he replied smoothly. "And come back, mind you." He paused. "So do you want to just sit there covered in filth, or do you want to come with me and clean up while the alcohol gets out of your system?"

Raven turned and raised an eyebrow. "Why would you... want to help me-"

"I have my own reasons. However, it is not really of major importance. You can be the garbage girl if you want to be-"

"Fine. Just don't try anything funny."

"I thought I already said I wouldn't."

"Liar. You said nothing of the sort-"

"Implied, then." He approached her and put one of her arms around his shoulder, but finding that she was too short, struggled slightly, then lifted her up bodily and began walking down through the maze of tunnels.

"You're heavier than you seem," he murmured.

Raven glared at him. "Shut up."

He only snickered a little and disappeared into the dark sewers.

* * *

Surprisingly true to his word, they arrived at what appeared to be a hideout a few minutes later and he carried her up a flight of stairs to another room, a bathroom with sink, toilet, shower, all the usual bathroom stuff.

Raven looked at him questioningly and he shrugged.

"Did you fools think that I never bathed or something? I don't smell, do I?"

"No, I do," Raven grimaced as she looked at the stains on her clothes, and Slade chuckled a little.

"You thought that was... funny?"

"I am not humorless, girl. Now, are you going to make me stink as well or are you going to clean yourself?"

Raven muttered something under her breath that he pretended not to hear and worked herself free of her arms and went inside, taking care to lock the door behind her. Though, if he really wanted to spy on her, he would have installed cameras inside - agh, Slade wasn't a pervert, was he?

She took a deep breath and tried to clear the throbbing pain in her head, but nothing happened. Groaning, she pulled of her cloak and unzipped her leotard, then stepped into the shower, turning the water on.

Surprisingly, it was warm. She had thought he would be the type for cold, quick showers. Well, she had also thought that he would be the type to attack her on sight, kidnap her, do all sorts of unimaginable things...

But Slade was human, after all, and every human had something deep within them, sometimes very deep, a key to his or her life, that when found could produce unexpected results. She just supposed that nobody had ever explored Slade's mind, or gotten the chance to, because he was, well, Slade...

Or maybe he was tricking her. Trying to use her for something, in some way. That was the more likely of the two, wasn't it?

She felt the water fall over her body and suddenly, for some reason, it stung. Looking down, she found a bunch of cuts and scraps on her arms and legs - for some reason she hadn't noticed them... maybe it was because she was preoccupied by the pain in her head, or Slade? - sighing, she turned off the water and stepped out, then realized that she had no clothes or towel.

_Damn it. _

She stuck her head out of the door. "Slade!"

"I'm right here, no need to yell," he said snidely, walking up the stairs to his bathroom, bringing with him a couple of black cloths.

He handed her the towel first, then the other one, a black cloak that was large enough to wrap around her entire body.

"You like black too?" Her voice sounded from behind the door.

"Surprised?"

"Can't say that I am."

A couple moments of silence. "Is this really the only thing I can wear?"

Slade shrugged. "I still have that suit I made for Robin, but it might be a little... tight around the chest area."

Raven looked down at herself, blushing. "Mine aren't... uh... that big. Um... I'll take it."

Slade smirked behind the mask and left again.

* * *

Raven laid down on a couch - Slade had a cough? - and stared at the masked villain, who stared back at her unflinchingly, not seeming to study her or anything, just stare at her for no apparent reason. It irritated her to no end, but it was also interesting to get a chance to study Slade close up, since she never really had the chance to do so otherwise.

Of course, she couldn't see his face, but something in the way he sat spoke of a man who had a huge weight on his shoulders, a weight that seemed to have been... somewhat lifted? He seemed a little less aggressive, less dark, less... well, he had never seemed moody, but the way he carried himself now spoke of it. But he was a little less so.

And even after her headache cleared away, finally, she was still intrigued enough that she didn't leave.

Here was the man who had caused Robin so much trouble, so much pain, actually, he had caused all of them a lot of pain, had destroyed one of their best friends (actually, Raven didn't like Terra all that much, but whatever), and had sided with her father (but then fought against him). And then disappeared, never to give them trouble again.

They all thought he would be back with some new scheme to... well, they weren't even sure what he wanted. An apprentice, that was for sure, but to do what? He had occupied parts of the city once, with Terra under his command, but to what end? He hadn't really done anything with it, hadn't imposed anything on the citizens of Jump, nothing. It had been terrifying with robots walking the streets, sure, but those were to scout for the _Titans. _Maybe he held some sort of grudge against Robin?

But she had seen into Robin's mind and Slade was only something recent, something that had happened after Robin came to Jump.

So who exactly was this man? And what did he want?

"If your head no longer hurts, I'd suggest that you go home. Your team will be looking for you, and if they find you here, they will assume the worst."

Raven raised an eyebrow. "And that matters to you why?"

"Because this time, unfortunately, I don't really feel like fighting."

"But it's not like you to just help someone, one of your _enemies, _and then say 'go home' and that's just the end of it. There's always something else. A plot-"

"Dear girl, you don't know what's like me and what isn't. You hardly even know me."

Raven looked at him suspiciously, and he met her gaze unflinchingly again. They stared at each other for awhile, each one seemingly trying to dominate the other, and both failing.

In the end, they both looked away.

"Fine," Raven muttered. "I'll leave. But don't think this is the last you'll hear from us-"

"We'll meet again when the time is right," he replied smoothly.

She gave him another strange look before disappearing in a portal of dark shadows.


	15. Raven and Slade Part II

Disclaimer: I don't own TT

Disclaimer #2: This chapter gets pretty graphic and would probably fall under an MA rating (aka, above 18). Nothing is explicitly mentioned, but it still gets pretty close to being a lemon. So _do not read _if you are uncomfortable with sex or references to sex. Again, _this chapter has adult content, _so please don't read it if it doesn't suit you.

"Speech"

_Thoughts_

* * *

**Raven and Slade Part II **

She snuck back into the Tower with nobody noticing and hid the suit in her closet, not wanting anyone else to find out. Especially not Robin. She also kept the meeting to herself, of course, since it wasn't exactly... proper behavior for a Titan to talk so casually with Slade and just leave.

So, it was quiet for a few months as everything settled down.

After the Brotherhood of Evil had been defeated, the Titans had a new reputation for being, well, fearsome in some senses, or if not that, then at least capable superheroes, and so the crime rate in Jump had fallen drastically.

Honestly, there wasn't a lot to do anymore, and so all of the Titans had more free time to do whatever they wanted to do.

Which included trying to get to know Raven better.

It wasn't like they didn't know her, but they still really weren't sure of who she was. Her past, her inner personality and demon, everything. And it wasn't like she didn't want them to feel like she was being cold but... _I'm afraid of what they'll think when they find out. I mean, they've stood by me all these years, even against Trigon, but they don't know that half of me is a demon, like him, capable of being equally destructive, equally murderous... what will they think of me? Most humans wouldn't be able to accept that side of me, or accept that even though it is myself, I hate it. I hate the darkness inside me, not because of what it is, but because I don't fit in since it's there. Yet it is who I am..._

_Most humans would be unwilling to accept that part of me, save for maybe the villains we fight... _which, she knew, included Slade. Why was he on her mind so much now? Was it because he had literally seemed to stop _everything _that he had once done and was now seemingly living peacefully, giving nobody trouble? Giving Robin no trouble...

Or was there something more.

Of course there was. Almost nobody knew anything about Slade, who he really was, what he wanted, his past, of course there was a lot to wonder about him. And now, she even had the opportunity to study him, it seemed, to figure out what made him tick, since he no longer seemed so... aggressive. Well...

Strike that, he was still plenty aggressive, but he no longer seemed to be her enemy, at least, so he didn't attack her on sight. Maybe she would pay him a visit sometime...

Wait, what the hell was she thinking? Paying _Slade _a visit? Was she nuts? This was the guy who had nearly killed them all so many times, who had given Robin so much trouble, so much pain for so many years, _helped her father... _Raven sighed.

She also knew that it wasn't wise to judge someone without a full picture of who that person was. Not just appearances, not just past actions, but why he did what he did, who he was inside.

Not that Slade would show himself easily, but Raven was an empath of extraordinary power. She would definitely find a way to figure him out - _but do I even care?_ A good question. Why should she care about someone who had only made them suffer?

_Because. Everyone deserves a chance. Maybe only one, but if I don't give him a chance to begin with, how will I ever know whether he's changed or not? _

It was difficult, but she realized that villains had their motives too, or perhaps had been caused, in some way, by external forces, to become what they were. She understood because she knew how precariously close to becoming a villain she herself was. Because she knew that superheroes were not always right and villains were not always wrong.

_Why not? I might as well go see him. No harm in that, right?_

* * *

He turned sharply, his visible eye widening in surprise as she emerged from a dark portal into his hideout. She herself was surprised that he would still be here. She had thought that he would have moved somewhere else, considering he was Slade, but... well, here he was.

"Never thought you would come here of your own accord," he said calmly.

"Neither did I."

"What do you want?"

Raven looked at him darkly from under her hood.

"You're... different now-"

"No different from before," he muttered. "Are you wondering why I no longer fight you Titans?"

Raven nodded.

Slade laughed curtly. "Then keep wondering. I have no intention of telling you. Now if your business is finished here?"

"You won't get rid of me that easily, Slade."

He turned away from her. "That's supposed to be my line-"

"But now any more, since we're not enemies. Or are we?"

"No, we are not. But we are not friends either-"

"I never said we had to be. I just want to know why-"

"And like I said, I have no intention of telling you."

"Why?"

"Perhaps for the same reason you kept your secrets hidden from your 'friends'. And still do, I might add. Your father told me many things about you."

"Then how is it fair-"

"Life isn't fair. Why are you so interested in me anyway?"

"Why shouldn't I be? You gave us so much trouble for so long, and now you're just giving up? I thought you had a grudge against Robin or something-"

"No. If I had a grudge against Robin, he wouldn't be alive right now."

"Then why?"

"For my own reasons."

Raven sighed and closed her eyes. "You know, I could try breaking into your mind by force."

"Then try. See how much good it does you."

"Fine."

Her soulself extended in the form of a black tendril and touched Slade's head. It was easy enough at first, since he didn't seem to have any mental barriers up to her. Images of herself, him holding her atop the tower, looking at her... strangely... what he thought of her, her strength, her character, something deep within him - suddenly he blocked her out and the images stopped.

_He doesn't want me to go there. Fine. _Further back into the past. Terra, Robin, a need for an apprentice, someone to follow in his footsteps, a child of his own, or at least something similar... further back, a girl who he seemed to be training... injecting her with some sort of drug... she went insane, and then there was her face, with its left eye missing... a boy with strange eyes, as if they could possess one's soul... he opened his mouth but no sound came out.

Further back into the past. The boy, laying on the ground with his throat slashed open... a man standing over him, frozen with shock, with grief... a woman, pointing a gun at the man's head... the bloody remains of an eye, the right eye, and then an empty eye socket again.

An old man, a companion to him, a dear friend, as far as she could tell, but now gone, leaving him alone, more utterly alone than he had ever been. He was not really a social man to begin with, but this level of abandonment affected even him.

Images flying through her head at blinding speed. Someone, perhaps himself, fighting, an insatiable lust for battle, but losing himself as well, his sense of identity, not knowing who he really was, what he really wanted, what his life was supposed to be about. A purposeless life.

Plagued by ideals like justice, honor, courage, steeped in reality, knowing that there was really nothing of the sort, that what was honorable to one might have been despicable to another... he simply thought of the world in different terms than the superheroes that imposed their virtues on everything. Not that he was guiltless. But not completely guilty...

Raven shook her head.

"I can't make sense of it."

"You looked too quickly," Slade replied.

The violet haired girl looked away. "I didn't think you'd want me in your head too long."

"You thought right."

"Who were... those people?"

"Nobody."

"I recognized one of them," Raven said softly. "That boy. He's Jericho, an honorary Titan. How do you know him?"

"I don't."

"Then why is he in your memories?"

Slade sighed. "He's my son."

Raven was silent for a moment. "What?" It was hard to imagine two people so very different being related by blood like that. But then, maybe it was because Jericho hated Slade, his father, so much that he wanted to be different, made an effort to be...

"I see," she said softly.

"I saw him the other day."

"What did he say - right, he can't speak."

"I knew enough just by looking at him."

"Knew what?"

"It's not important. I don't know why I'm telling you this," he was cold again.

Raven gave off a noise of frustration. "I know there's more to you that you're letting on. Why won't you admit it?"

"Not to you."

"Then to who else? And why did you block off your thoughts of me? What were you thinking of?"

"You wouldn't want to know."

Raven looked at him darkly. "I'm not as innocent as you might think, Slade. I have an idea."

"A man's desires-"

"And a woman's-"

"Most women aren't like that-"

"How would you know? And I am half demon, in case you haven't forgotten. I have my own-"

"You would want to do something like that with me?" Slade spoke incredulously, puzzled. "Is that what you're-"

"Maybe," Raven replied softly. "Demons have their own needs. Sometimes they are there, other times they are not. But it's not like my 'friends' would approve of that side of me."

"You don't know that."

"Are you trying to... comfort me?"

"Not at all," Slade replied, keeping his voice smooth and even. "I want you to stop bothering me. I have better things to do than talk to a hormonal teenage girl."

Raven's eyes narrowed. "Not just any hormonal teenage girl. I know exactly what you wanted to do to me. But why me? I'm not the one that most people would call beautiful. That's Starfire, that's Terra-"

"You've clearly misread me if you think I like such... feminine girls. Ones who only reside in society's light side. You, you belong in the dark side, with me."

"I'm not evil-"

"Darkness is not evil, Raven. Even I am not evil, not evil as you would think I am."

Raven closed her eyes. "I know. I was just surprised that you thought of me that way. I mean, I didn't expect it-"

"That," Slade said forcefully. "Was not something meant for you to find out."

"If you're anything like Robin, and you are... then you probably can be pretty obsessive. So that's why I have to ask... have you gotten over it?"

Slade looked away from her, head bent. And then he looked up. "I am a person who values strength," he said matter of factly.

Raven nodded. That made sense.

"I also have no patience for fools who are always optimistic and can never understand how screwed up this world and its people are." _And I like someone who understands. Who has suffered the same things I do and knows why... _He didn't say it out loud, hell, he had a hard time admitting it to himself, but Raven understood.

Of course she did, she was an empath. But also more than that. Her personality was... somewhat like his. She was strong willed, and although not necessarily physically powerful, her knowledge of sorcery more than made up for that. She could be obsessive, dark, angry, brooding, but also deeply caring. Did he care about if someone cared for him?

He didn't know the answer to that, but he certainly relished those other traits. There was an allure to her that the other Titans did not have. And not just her personality. Her oddly colored hair, her pale skin, the smooth muscles on her body - she was... appealing.

"Ravishing," Raven muttered, voicing his thoughts for him. "You really think of me that way?"

"Last I checked, it was impolite for someone to read another person's thoughts without consent."

Raven shrugged. "It's also impolite to keep a lady waiting."

Slade froze. "You're serious about this?"

"Maybe."

The masked man chuckled. "You know, you were the only one I couldn't figure out. The others, I could read like an open book. It was so easy to get inside their heads, to mess with them. I knew exactly what made them tick. But you..."

Raven cast aside her cloak. "There are many sides to me," and her voice seemed to grow hoarser, a little more vicious. "What one side of me needs is not what the other side requires, what one side hates the other loves. It sometimes happens that way."

"I already know that. But don't think you can intimidate me so easily."

"Not to be outdone? Brave words, for a mortal-"

"I bow to no one. Not even Trigon, and definitely not his daughter."

"Then kneel," Raven growled viciously and moved forward, almost threateningly.

She stretched out a hand - it almost seemed like a claw... maybe it was - and forced his head down.

"You like to play rough, don't you," he muttered. It wasn't every day that anyone physically forced Slade into any position, let alone a girl that was much smaller than him. But then, she had the strength of a demon in that form, and he did not.

"Of course I do. Now, have at it, mortal."

Slade suddenly stood and seized her shoulders. "If we do this, we do this _my _way."

Raven's eyes narrowed and glimmered with a wicked crimson light. Her claws suddenly darted forward and the man's clothing was shredded and even his skin torn in a couple areas. She glanced down.

"Excited, are we?" She moved a claw to his face, but he caught her wrist before she reached him.

"The mask stays," he said forcefully. "And," he moved a hand down. "Not nearly as excited as you are."

Raven smiled darkly, revealing her sharp teeth, and the black cloth covering her was gone as well. He glanced down. She glanced down as well.

"My human side does not like the idea of... sharp objects near her... precious."

"I don't care. Actually, it's better this way." And suddenly, his hands wrapped around her waist and he lifted her up, carrying over to another room with a large bed. He threw her down onto the sheets and dove in.

Raven growled, but after a few minutes those growls faded into harsh panting, her heart beating faster and faster, the blood practically boiling as it coursed through her.

"Enough," she rasped out as she felt the muscles in her stomach clench. "Not yet."

She pushed him back and tried to move on him, but he was faster and flipped her over, slamming her back down on the bed, face down. She rose to her hands and knees, feeling a little dazed, but that only served to heighten her senses, the feelings near her waist especially.

"First time?"

She turned slightly, eyes widening in surprise, the red light fading from them slightly.

"I had to be sure," he muttered.

"Physically, yes," she murmured. "But in my mind there have been things... never mind. Basically, no."

"Good," Slade said gruffly.

Raven's eyes widened again a moment later and the red light returned to them in full force.

"That's... the wrong one - agh -" she panted out, breathing yet more heavily than before.

"I thought you enjoyed pain," Slade still somehow spoke smoothly, although if one listened carefully, his voice was strained very slightly.

"Yours and mine both," Raven suddenly pulled away from him and pushed him back, then pressed down onto his body. "You're not the only one who gets to be in control-"

* * *

She had been surprised when he passed out before she did, but then again, he was only human and she was a half demon goddess. It was quite shocking that he had lasted as long as he did, long enough to make _her _nearly pass out as well, but demons were known for their stamina in such things. It wasn't exactly a fair battle.

Looking down at his chest rising and falling slowly, she wondered what was behind that mask, what remained for her to discover of that man. A lot of things, of course, but was it really her place to pry into it? Or would she let it be and let him remain a mystery, something unsolved... she knew his present emotions, all of his feelings, but not why, not what had happened to cause it, nothing. Would she ever find out?

A black void began to grow from the corners of her eyes, closing in over her vision.

There were many things that she could explore, that she could experience. The wonders of a world of immortals, the powers of a demon god, or any other god realms with the strength that she had the potential to wield. She could maybe find her own true power, a power greater than Trigon's own, a power rivaling that of the strongest demon lords, or find out what incredible and mystical things lay in other dimensions with their immortal beings.

And yet none of those were as interesting as this one man, whose past and suppressed emotions seemed to create a being of infinite depth, more powerful in some ways than any demon lord could ever be, more human than any other human could hope to be as well.

The blackness at the corners of her eyes grew more quickly and soon, her vision was obscured completely. And the world faded around her as the realm of dreams claimed her mind for its own.

* * *

She woke up in her own room in the Tower and instantly she began to wonder.

_Did it really happen? Or just a dream... _

She looked around. Then down at herself. She wasn't wearing anything and it felt like there was something sticky in her hair, and not the hair on her head.

_Yep. _

Sighing, she got up and looked down, finding her clothes neatly folded on the floor with a note on top of them.

_Perhaps some day you shall find out who I am. But for now, this is all you'll get._

_-S _

Frowning, she tore up the piece of paper and went to go take a shower.

* * *

A/N: It might be a good idea to look up Slade's history if you're interested -

wiki/Deathstroke under the heading "Origins" is where I drew information for part of the chapter from. The rest can be ignored because it doesn't quite fit the Teen Titans show version.


End file.
